Those who closely follow the topic of space exploration have witnessed the effort that has been made Boeing to cross the heavens. The company known for the development of ships for commercial aviation, set out to overcome the atmosphere with the creation of a machine capable of leaving the Earth. This is how it was born Starlinera device that had already managed to go towards International Space Station (ISS) of the POTbut now preparing to carry passengers.
NASA and its initiative to incorporate private companies into space exploration allow Boeing to already have a launch date for its spacecraft, Starliner, to take two astronauts from the North American space agency to the ISS.
It is not the first time that Starliner, a reusable ship, travels into space. But it will be the first time that she does it with two crew members inside. NASA reports that they reviewed operations at the ISS (see how the other affiliated companies are scheduled for their launches) and thus determined that the Boeing ship should take these two astronauts to space, sometime before May 6 of this same 2024.
First they must wait for the crew NASA SpaceX Crew-8 board the Dragon spacecraft, currently docked at the forward port, to move to Harmony's zenith port to allow for Starliner docking.
Boeing spacecraft will travel with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the space station to dock precisely at that front port of the ISS.
“As part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program, Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,” the agency reports. NASA on the official commercial crew site.
“Williams and Wilmore will spend about a week docked at the space station before returning to Earth in the western United States. The flight test will help NASA verify whether the Starliner system is ready to perform regular crew rotation missions to the space station for the agency,” the space agency said.