The CST-100 Starline space capsule of the U.S. Boeing has successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on its first manned test flight.
According to media outlets including CNN, the Starliner, carrying veteran NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore (61) and Sunita Williams (58), safely docked at the ISS about 250 miles above the southern Indian Ocean on the 6th at 1:34 PM EST. This manned test flight comes about two years after the Starliner successfully performed an unmanned flight in May 2022.
The Starliner was originally scheduled to dock at 12:15 PM on that day, but it was delayed by an hour due to issues with some of the jet thrusters.
The Starliner was launched into space atop an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:52 AM the previous day and began its flight after settling into orbit.
This successful launch came on the third attempt after two cancellations just before the launch on May 6.
The two astronauts who successfully docked at the ISS will stay for about a week before returning to Earth. During their stay, they will unload the cargo they brought and practice the procedures for future astronauts who will ride the Starliner to the ISS for long-term stays of over six months.
This flight tests if the Starliner can send astronauts into space and return them to Earth for NASA’s project. The successful ISS docking is seen as an important milestone in the process.
The Starliner will also be used when the two astronauts return to Earth after their ISS stay, which is another key test element of this flight.
The Starliner is designed to safely protect the crew during reentry through the atmosphere.
NASA will analyze various data from this flight to determine whether the Starliner can be used for regular crew transport between the ISS and the ground.
SpaceX, another private partner of NASA, has been sending NASA astronauts into space using the Crew Dragon since 2020.
If NASA approves the Starliner, it will be the sixth spacecraft used to carry American astronauts into space, following the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo of the 1960s and 70s, the Space Shuttle of 1981~2011, and the Crew Dragon since 2020.
In 2014, NASA decided to entrust low-Earth orbit manned transportation to private companies to focus on deep space exploration and signed development contracts of manned capsule with Boeing and SpaceX worth $4.2 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively.