WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2021) Boeing will get a second chance to demonstrate its Starliner spaceship can carry astronauts to the International Space station with an unscrewed test flight on in late July, NASA said.
"Launch of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program," NASA said in a press release on Thursday.
The mission will test the end-to-end capabilities of Starliner from launch to docking, atmospheric re-entry, and a desert landing in the western United States. The test is needed for NASA to certify Boeing's system can safely carry astronauts to and from the space station, the release said.
Boeing's first unscrewed test of the Starliner system in December failed to reach the station due to software glitches.
In the meantime, rival SpaceX, passed its unscrewed test flight and subsequently flew two NASA astronauts to the station in May - the first crewed space flight from American soil since the US space shuttle program ended 2011.
