Boeing’s troubled Starliner launches for International Space Station in key test
- The uncrewed flight follows years of failed attempts as Nasa seeks an alternative to SpaceX for getting its astronauts to the ISS
- The capsule is expected to dock 24 hours after launch, delivering over 225kg of cargo to the station
American aerospace giant Boeing launched its Starliner capsule for the International Space Station Thursday in a critical uncrewed test flight that followed years of failures and false starts.
The Orbital Test Flight 2 (OFT-2) mission blasted off at 6.54pm Eastern Time from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, with the spaceship fixed atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
“Starliner is headed back to space on the shoulders of Atlas,” an announcer said on a Nasa live feed.
Its success is key to repairing Boeing’s frayed reputation after the first bid, back in 2019, failed to dock with the ISS due to software bugs – one that led to it burning too much fuel to reach its destination, and another that could have destroyed the vehicle during re-entry.
A second try was scheduled in August of last year, but was rolled back from the launch pad to address sticky valves that were not opening as they should, and the capsule was eventually sent back to the factory for fixes.