Boeing is all set to blast off its Starliner space vehicle to space on May 6, with two Nasa astronauts aboard under the mission Crew Flight Test which will continue for a week on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Boeing Starliner would pave the way for future missions to ISS that would last six months.
Two aerospace companies were awarded contracts from the US space agency; Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX with $4.2 billion and $2.6 billion respectively. Elon Musk’s company has been leading the missions of ISS since 2020.
The astronauts will be leaving the surface of Earth from Cape Canaveral, near Kennedy Space Center, Florida, supported by the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The crew will be arriving at the pad 2 hours and 15 minutes before the lift-off.
The space vehicle will be then shifted to internal power 80 minutes before blasting off, and all the safety checks will be conducted before the rocket lifts off.
"It's already been a busy day, but then we have liftoff. That's where my real work starts," Nasa Starliner flight director Mike Lammers told media, adding that this will be the first crewed ascent flown out of Mission Control since the last shuttle STS-135, in 2011, according to Space.com.
The outlet reported: “The second stage will light, with two RL-10 engines on that Centaur stage bringing the crew into space. The second stage will shut off 12 minutes after launch, and the spacecraft will separate 15 minutes after launch.”
The spacecraft must approach the ISS within a seven-degree angle of safety and is made to dock autonomously, but there has been training in manual conduct.
"Our main goals of the docking mission are ... practice and validate the plan operations for long-duration missions," Nasa flight director Vincent LaCourt said during the presser.
"We'll go into Starliner, they'll close the hatch [and] basically completely power up the vehicle on their own to practice if they're getting ready for an emergency undock and return," LaCourt said.
The crew will ensure the equipment is working. After the mission objectives are met, the crew will depart for Earth.