Boeing will send people into space: this is the second private company to sign a contract with NASA

On May 6, Boeing intends to send the first Starliner space capsule with astronauts into orbit, reports Reuters.

Photo: iStock.com/3DSculptor

Starliner is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 22:34 p.m. ET. Live broadcast will be available here. Read about 10 popular misconceptions about space from books and movies in our article.

The CST-100 Starliner test mission, delayed for several years due to cost overruns of more than $1 billion, will carry two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). How staying in space affects the human body, read in our material.

According to NASA, the May 6 launch will be the spacecraft's final test flight to "test the transportation system... and return to Earth with astronauts on board."

On the subject: An American company must pay $150 for littering in space: this is the first such fine in the world

In recent years, NASA has supported the creation of a new generation of private spacecraft.

They will be able to carry astronauts and other clients to the ISS and, under the more ambitious Artemis program, to the Moon and eventually to Mars, Starliner is the latest product of the agency's commercial model.

“The first crewed flight of the new spacecraft is a very important milestone,” NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Free told reporters at a press conference before the launch. “The lives of our team members Sunya Williams and Butch Wilmore are at stake.”

Who's flying

Williams, 58, is a former Navy test pilot with experience flying more than 30 different aircraft. She has spent 322 days in space on two missions since her first flight in 2007. Wilmore, 61, a retired Navy captain, has spent 178 days in space since his first of two space missions in 2009.

Wilmore and Williams will spend about a week on the International Space Station.

An attempt to send an unmanned Starliner to the ISS in 2019 failed. It returned to Earth several days early due to dozens of software and engineering problems. Meanwhile, SpaceX's Crew Dragon received a few more flights from NASA while Boeing worked out its problems.

The Starliner capsule, which can carry up to seven astronauts, has become a symbol of the fight against new space competitors such as SpaceX, whose Crew Dragon spacecraft made its first manned flight in 2020.

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Development problems cost Boeing more than $1,5 billion.

NASA is supporting private development of new space stations that could replace the ISS after it is decommissioned.

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