Boeing's Starliner spacecraft
is officially on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after 2.5 years of delays.
The Starliner team is
confident the malfunctions won’t prevent the spacecraft from completing its mission.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket launched from Cape Canaveral carrying Starliner aloft on an uncrewed mission called Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2).
Starliner will dock with the ISS
on may 20 evening and spend four to five days attached to the orbiting lab before coming back to Earth for a parachute-aided landing in the western U.S
Success on all of those fronts
would likely show that the Boeing spacecraft is ready to carry NASA astronauts to and from the station.
Starliner got itself into the
proper orbit after separating from the Atlas V on Thursday, a huge milestone for Boeing and NASA.