Boeing's Starliner capsule finally launches, carries crew into space for first piloted test flight
Source: CBS News
Updated on: June 5, 2024 / 11:26 AM EDT
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying astronauts for the first time in six decades finally blasted off Wednesday and safely boosted Boeing's long-delayed Starliner crew ferry ship into space for its first piloted test flight, a shakedown cruise to the International Space Station.
The workhorse Atlas 5's Russian-built RD-180 first stage engine roared to life at 10:52 p.m. EDT, followed an instant later by ignition of two strap-on solid fuel boosters.
Generating a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust, the 197-foot Atlas 5 majestically climbed skyward from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, arcing away to the northeast on a trajectory matching the orbital path of the space station — a requirement for rendezvous missions.
Monitoring the automated ascent were commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, both veteran Navy test pilots and active-duty NASA astronauts with four earlier spaceflights to their credit, 11 spacewalks between them and a combined 500 days in orbit.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-starliner-launch-first-piloted-test-flight-space/
Article updated.
Original article/headline -
Updated on: June 5, 2024 / 10:58 AM EDT
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off Wednesday in its third attempt to get Boeing's long-delayed Starliner crew capsule into orbit for its first piloted test flight, a cruise to the International Space Station.
NASA commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, both former Navy test pilots, entered the capsule at about 8 a.m. EDT and completed their checks to await liftoff at 10:52 a.m. That's roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries the pad into alignment with the space station's orbit -- a requirement for rendezvous missions.
Once in orbit, the astronauts plan to test the Starliner's manual controls before closely monitoring an automated 25-hour rendezvous with the station, catching up from behind and below before moving in for docking at the lab's forward port at 12:15 p.m. Thursday. If all goes well, the Starliner and its crew will return to Earth on June 14.
The long-awaited flight marks the first launch of an Atlas 5 with astronauts aboard and the first for the Atlas family of rockets since astronaut Gordon Cooper took off on the Mercury program's final flight 61 years ago.
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we no longer have to pay the russians to get our people up there and back. yay!!!! this is the only thing i liked about ren and stimpy along with the shoe tie song.
