Ready for Liftoff: NASA, Boeing, ULA “Go” for Starliner Crew Flight Test

NASA and Boeing are set to launch CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the ISS on June 1, with backup dates available. Astronauts will spend a week in space before returning to Earth.

NASA and Boeing teams polled “go” to proceed with plans to launch the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station (ISS) at 12:25 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 1. During a Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review Wednesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, leaders from NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) verified launch readiness, including all systems, facilities, and teams supporting the test flight.

A backup launch opportunity is available on Sunday, June 2, with additional launch windows on Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.

Astronaut Quarantine

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Kennedy on May 28, and will remain in quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building until Saturday’s launch. The crew previously quarantined in Houston while mission teams worked to resolve various items with the rocket and spacecraft since scrubbing an initial launch attempt on May 6.

Prelaunch Preparations

Next up, NASA leaders, along with Boeing and ULA partners, will hold a prelaunch news conference at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, May 31, at Kennedy’s press auditorium.

Liftoff of the Atlas V rocket and Starliner spacecraft will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Crew Flight Test will send Wilmore and Williams to the orbiting laboratory for about a week before returning to Earth aboard the reusable crew capsule, which will make a parachute- and- airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.

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