Boeing launching Starliner test flight Friday: Take a look inside the spacecraft
Boeing is set to launch its Starliner spacecraft Friday for its first test flight to the International Space Station.
The CST-100 Starliner is a reusable capsule with seating for seven people. It’s designed to autonomously dock with space stations like the ISS and land on the ground, rather than in water. Boeing says the capsule can be reused as many as 10 times.
The launch is set for 6:36 a.m. eastern at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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Boeing has worked with NASA on the spacecraft’s development, and the goal is for it to carry NASA astronauts to the ISS. This first test flight, atop an Atlas V rocket, will be unmanned and is scheduled to dock and undock at the ISS before landing at White Sands Harbor, New Mexico.
A later second flight will carry NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann, according to Boeing.
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CST-100 Starliner space suit ingress-egress test with Chris Ferguson and other astronauts at NASA Kennedy Space Center. (Credit: Boeing)
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Last month, Boeing tested the capsule’s launch abort engines at White Sands. The engines propelled the vehicle about a mile into the sky before it landed 90 seconds later.
NASA gave Boeing more than $4 billion in 2014 to develop and fly the capsule, The Associated Press reported.