After years of stumbles and delays, Boeing finally sent astronauts to the International Space Station on June 5, The Associated Press reports.
The Boeing Starliner capsule, with a crew of two NASA pilots on board, is scheduled to undergo a test drive and spend a week at the space station before landing in the American West.
The capsule has a height of about 3 meters and a diameter of 4.5 meters. It has capacity for seven people.
If the test is successful, NASA will continue to use Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
NASA turned to private American companies to fly astronauts into space after the space shuttles were retired. Since 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine deliveries for NASA.
Recall that in the first unmanned test flight of the capsule in 2019 there was such a serious problem with the software that it did not reach the space station. A second attempt in 2022 was more successful. In the summer of 2023, problems arose with parachutes and flammable tape. Then, two manned launches of the capsule were delayed due to problems with the launch vehicles.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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