Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft lifts off for first crewed flight after multiple delays

Richard Luscombe in Miami
·4-min read

Two Nasa astronauts were on their way to the international space station on Wednesday after Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule finally made its much delayed first crewed flight from Cape Canaveral.

The visually stunning liftoff, against a mostly clear and blue Florida sky, came seven years beyond the spacecraft’s original target date, five years after the failure of an uncrewed test flight, and following a more recent series of postponements for technical reasons that saw launch attempts aborted twice.

Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams reached orbit 12 minutes after the 10.52am ET launch. They are scheduled to dock with the ISS shortly after noon on Thursday, and if the eigh-to-10-day mission is successful, Starliner will give Nasa a second privately owned option for ferrying humans to lower Earth orbit alongside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Bill Nelson, the agency’s administrator and former space shuttle astronaut, hailed what he said was “a special moment”.

“This is another milestone in this extraordinary history of Nasa,” he told a post-launch press conference. “The whole team went through a lot of trial and tribulation. But they had perseverance.

“With Dragon and Starliner, the US is going to have two unique human space transportation systems. We always like to have a backup that makes it safer for our astronauts.

“That’s why we started the commercial crew program [CCP] in the first place, partnering with US companies to deliver safe and reliable spaceflight at the same time of cutting the cost. When we expand our fleet of spacecraft, what we’re doing is expanding our reach to the stars.”

The launch also gave a welcome lift to Boeing. Although space operations are conducted independently of its aviation wing, executives will be pleased the company’s name is attached to some good news following a recent series of safety and quality issues.

“The whole company has rallied around us. I get emotional talking about it,” Aaron Kraftcheck, senior manager for Starliner’s flight software, design and development, told reporters in April.

Nasa has ordered from Boeing a further six astronaut rotation flights to the space station as part of the CCP. Each capsule can be flown up to 10 times, Boeing says, with a six-month turnaround between each mission.

The hi-tech Starliner capsule, officially called CST-100 (crew space transportation), is designed to totally transform how astronauts fly in space. Its autonomous flight, navigation and course-correct systems make Williams and Wilmore effectively only passengers, although they can step in to take over manually if required.

Innovation includes a weldless design, which reduces the risk of structural failure, and interior space similar to a midsize SUV. Starliner can carry up to seven humans, but will be configured for four astronauts and cargo for space station flights.

Today’s crew both have extensive spaceflight experience, having spent more than 500 days in orbit between them on previous space shuttle and ISS missions. With Wednesday’s launch from Cape Canaveral space force station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, Williams became the first female to fly in an orbital test vehicle.

“Butch and Suni bring a lot to the table in terms of helping us as a team get to a place where we’re ready to go fly. They’ve been very integral to the process for years, and all of that culminates with this one,” LeRoy Cain, manager of mission integration and operations for Boeing’s commercial crew program, and a former Nasa flight director, told Nasa TV.

Cain was flight director during the 2002 Columbia space shuttle disaster, which killed seven astronauts, and he said safety was an overriding priority.

“Exploring space is not for the faint of heart. It has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’s very unforgiving [and] the margins are small. I expect it to be a very successful flight test. I think we’ll learn some things, we learn every time we fly. And that’s part of the beauty of this business, part of why we were so drawn to the exploration of space.”

Wilmore, in a short speech from Starliner’s flight deck immediately before launch, paid tribute to the hundreds of Nasa and Boeing employees who worked on the mission, and the 450 suppliers from 37 states that contributed.

“[They are] people who use their gifts and talents for the common good, are passionate,” he said.

“We all know that when the going gets tough, and it often does, the tough get going, and Suni and I are honored to share this dream of spaceflight with each and every one of you.”

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • ‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ cosmic event to appear in night sky after star explodes

    The T Coronae Borealis, or Blaze Star, will appear as an extremely bright object in the night sky in the coming days

  • NASA Discovers Strange Spectral Formations High Over the Earth

    X Marks the Spot NASA scientists have spotted unusual shapes in the Earth's ionosphere, hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface. The ionosphere stretches from 50 to 400 miles above the surface and marks the boundary between our planet's atmosphere and outer space. While it houses most satellites orbiting the Earth, it's vulnerable to changes […]

  • Scientists spot unexplained ‘tiny bright objects’ in the distant universe

    Lights are not explained by current theories of galaxy growth or black holes

  • Scientists Are Still Trying to Figure Out How to Kill Invasive Spotted Lanternflies

    Scientists have been researching the best method for killing spotted lanternflies, and they may have gotten some new leads this year through the insects' attraction to vibrations.

  • Posts Claim NASA Warned of a 72% Chance Asteroid Will Hit Earth in 2038. NASA Begs To Differ

    Social media users claimed NASA initiated a "planetary defense exercise" to prevent the impact.

  • Ahead of Ariane 6 launch, what are the other big rockets?

    Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket is due to blast off for the first time next week, but it will launch into a quickly changing market for heavy space launchers increasingly dominated by SpaceX.Here are some of the other big rockets competing for the lucrative job of hauling satellites and other missions into space.- Ariane 6 - The first flight of the European Space Agency's biggest rocket launcher is scheduled from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 9. It will replace the workhorse rocket Ariane 5, which in 2023 carried out the last of 117 launches over nearly three decades.When Ariane 6 launches with two boosters, it will be able to haul 4.5 tonnes of payload -- such as satellites -- into geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres above Earth. Satellites in geostationary orbit follow Earth's rotation, so they appear fixed at a set spot.It will also be able to take more than 10 tonnes into low Earth orbit, just hundreds of kilometres up. Unlike geostationary orbits, objects in low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station, spin around the world much faster and do not appear fixed.This lower region will be home to 85 percent of the satellites that will be launched by 2032, according to the firm Euroconsult.When Ariane 6 launches with four boosters, planned for next year, it will be able to deliver 11.5 tonnes into geostationary orbit and 21.6 tonnes into low Earth orbit.It will also be able to deploy constellations of satellites across different orbits thanks to the reusable Vinci engine in its upper stage.However the rest of the rocket is not reusable, unlike its chief competition, the Falcon 9 of billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX.- Falcon 9, Starship - Falcon 9 is a reusable rocket that has come to dominate the market. Since 2010, it has launched 350 times, including 91 last year -- two-thirds of which were for SpaceX's own Starlink satellite internet constellation.Falcon 9 can take more than eight tonnes into geostationary orbit and nearly 23 tonnes into low Earth orbit.Competitor Arianespace accuses SpaceX of charging the US government and NASA a premium price to use the Falcon 9, which lets the US firm offer low prices to its other commercial customers.Also in SpaceX's stable of rockets is the larger and more powerful Falcon Heavy.And it is working on the massive Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, which plans to carry up to 150 tonnes in its reusable form and 250 tonnes when not reusable.After three previous test flights ended with the Starship blowing up, last month the rocket held together and successfully splashed down for the first time.- New Glenn - After years of delays, the first flight of Blue Origin's reusable New Glenn is scheduled for September, according to its first customer NASA.The rocket is nearly 100 metres (330 feet) tall, compared to Ariane 6's height of 62 metres. It will be able to carry 13 tonnes into geostationary orbit and 45 tonnes into low Earth orbit.The US company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is keeping quiet about its order book, but the rocket is expected to help launch Amazon's Kuiper satellite internet constellation.- Vulcan Centaur -The United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, launched its Vulcan Centaur rocket for the first time in January.It is set to replace the company's workhorse Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, favourites of the United States for institutional launches.The rocket, which has reusable engines, will be able to have up to six boosters, delivering more than 15 tonnes into geostationary orbit and over 27 tonnes into low Earth orbit.- H3 -Japan's new flagship H3 rocket made its inaugural flight in February. It can have up to four boosters and launch 6.5 tonnes into geostationary orbit.- Angara A5 -Russia's replacement for its ageing Proton rockets made its maiden launch back in 2014 -- but a test flight in April was only its fourth since then.It can deliver 5.4 tonnes into geostationary orbit and 24.5 tonnes into low Earth orbit.- Long March 5 -China's Long March 5 has launched 12 times since 2016. It can take 14 tonnes into geostationary orbit and 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit.mra-dl/spb/js/mca

  • China Cracks Open First Ever Sample From Moon’s Far Side

    "Thicker and Stickier" After boldly going to the Moon's far side, China is now in possession of more than four pounds of lunar samples — the first ever collected in human history from that mysterious region. The state-run China Daily newspaper reports that the Chang'e 6 robotic lunar lander, which touched down back on Earth […]

  • Sinkholes spread fear in Turkey's parched breadbasket

    Every time Turkish farmer Fatih Sik drives his tractor across his cornfields he knows the earth could open up and swallow him at any moment. "It's the first time I have seen this, it's impressive."

  • Scientists Identify Plant That Could Grow on Mars

    Mars Moss Scientists in China claim to have discovered a kind of desert moss that thrives in a variety of conditions, from Antarctica to the Mojave desert — that could survive on the surface of Mars without being sheltered inside a greenhouse. As The Guardian reports, the moss called Syntrichia caninervis could help us transform the […]

  • Mars is being constantly smashed by meteorites, study finds

    Objects smash into Mars almost daily – leaving behind large craters, researchers find

  • Bionic leg allows amputees to walk naturally and at normal speed in world first

    Amputees given new bionic legs can walk naturally and at a normal speed in a “miraculous” world-first scientific breakthrough.

  • Two reasons I’m sceptical about psychedelic science

    There are fundamental flaws in psychedelics research. But I’m still intrigued by their potential.

  • Thrill seekers can now travel to the edge of space space in a giant hot air balloon for £100k

    It has just completed its first successful test flight

  • Scientists Create Robot Controlled by Blob of Human Brain Cells

    A team of Chinese researchers has stuck a tiny organoid made from human stem cells onto the body of a tiny robot, creating a Frankensteinian creation that can learn how to complete certain tasks. As the South China Morning Post reports, the researchers from Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology hooked […]

  • See Chinese rocket crash after accidentally launching

    On June 30, a Chinese rocket crashed into the hills of Gongyi in central China after being accidentally launched during a ground test, according to a statement from the company, Space Pioneer. No injuries have been reported.

  • NASA administrator weighs in on China’s historic lunar far side samples — and potential US access

    China now has the first samples ever collected from the far side of the moon and says it will share them with scientists around the world. But a 2011 law complicates access for the US.

  • An Arizona museum tells the stories of ancient animals through their fossilized poop

    One way to help tell how a Tyrannosaurus rex digested food is to look at its poop. Bone fragments in a piece of fossilized excrement at a new museum in northern Arizona — aptly called the Poozeum — are among the tinier bits of evidence that indicate T. rex wasn’t much of a chewer, but rather swallowed whole chunks of prey. The sample is one of more than 7,000 on display at the museum that opened in May in Williams, a town known for its Wild West shows along Route 66, wildlife attractions and a railway to Grand Canyon National Park.

  • TechCrunch Space: Star spangled

    Read my story from last week on the causes of Starliner's additional delay and what it might mean for Boeing's Starliner program. The indisputable story of the week is the massive $843 million contract NASA awarded to SpaceX to develop the vehicle that will deorbit the International Space Station. There are scant details about the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, as it's being called, but one NASA official did say it would be based on "Dragon heritage" hardware.

  • Europe's Ariane 6 rocket finally ready for liftoff

    Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket is set for its first-ever launch next week, carrying with it the continent's hopes of regaining independent access to space and fending off soaring competition from Elon Musk's SpaceX.After four years of delays, the European Space Agency's (ESA) most powerful rocket yet is finally due to blast off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 3:00 pm (1800 GMT) on July 9.Since the last flight of the rocket's workhorse predecessor, Ariane 5, a year ago, Europe has been unable to launch satellites or other missions into space without relying on rivals such as the US firm SpaceX.Kourou was the site of launches by Russia's Soyuz rockets for more than a decade, before Moscow withdrew them after invading Ukraine in 2022. Later that year, Europe's Vega-C light launcher was grounded after a launch failure. Delays to Ariane 6's first flight -- originally scheduled for 2020 -- compounded the crisis. "Everything that could go wrong went wrong," ESA chief Josef Aschbacher said.That is why "Ariane 6 is crucial for Europe," he added. "It's absolutely mandatory for Europe to have an independent access to space."After the struggles of the 4.5-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) programme, Europe's space industry has been nervously observing the run-up to the launch.A "wet dress rehearsal" late last month ran through all the launch procedures, right up to the moment before the engines ignite on the launchpad.It went "very smoothly... like a Swiss watch," ESA space transportation acting director Toni Tolker-Nielsen said, adding that there was nothing to call the launch date into question.- 'Important moment' -Ariane 6 will put satellites into geostationary orbit, which appears stationary by matching Earth's speed at 36,000 kilometres (22,000 miles) above Earth. It can also launch constellations a few hundred kilometres up. The rocket's upper stage, powered by the Vinci engine, ignites after take-off to place satellites in orbit before falling into the Pacific Ocean -- a special feature to prevent space debris. Ariane 6's first launch will use two boosters, with a more powerful four-booster version scheduled for liftoff in the middle of next year.However, the boosters and other parts of the rocket are not reusable -- unlike SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Billionaire Musk has repeatedly criticised Ariane 6 for not being reusable.The European response has been that it would not make economic sense for the rocket to be reusable because it was designed for far fewer launches than the Falcon 9.The rocket will initially carry out nine launches a year -- a far cry from the Falcon 9, which managed 14 in May alone.The rocket's inaugural flight will carry 18 different smaller items, including university micro-satellites and scientific experiments.Its first commercial flight is scheduled for later in 2024, with 14 more planned over the next two years. - Shock late cancellation -One positive for Ariane 6 is that space business is booming. The amount spent on launchers, satellites and other parts of the space economy is projected to surge to $822 billion by 2032, up from $508 billion last year, according to consulting firm Novaspace.But this has not yet been enough to make Ariane 6 profitable. The financing for the first 15 launches has been secured. But the ESA's 22 member states have agreed to subsidise the rocket for up to 340 million euros a year from its 16th to 42nd flights -- in return for an 11 percent discount. Ariane 6 already has an order book of 30 missions, including 18 to deploy some of Amazon's Kuiper constellation of internet satellites."That is absolutely unprecedented for a rocket that has not flown," said Stephane Israel, CEO of launch service provider Arianespace.However, just days before the inaugural flight, Europe's weather satellite operator EUMETSAT cancelled plans to use the European Ariane 6 in favour of SpaceX's Falcon 9, citing "exceptional circumstances".Philippe Baptiste, head of France's CNES space agency, called it "a very disappointing day for European space efforts".Faced with such stiff competition, the challenge for Ariane 6 will be to survive in a "market that needs rockets", ArianeGroup CEO Martin Sion said.After all, Ariane 6 is "Europe's sovereignty launcher", he added.mra-dl/spb

  • Victoria Beckham just wore the slinkiest see-through dress - we're totally speechless

    Victoria Beckham looked incredible on Instagram wearing a gold, see-through dress to advertise her perfume, Portofino 97 - from her Victoria Beckham Beauty brand.