Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
After numerous delays and setbacks, Boeing is set to launch astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA using the Starliner spacecraft.
The Starliner will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket, marking the first crewed Atlas launch since NASA's Project Mercury.
This launch will also mark the 100th flight of the Atlas V rocket, a significant achievement since its inception 62 years ago, coincidentally on the same day as Alan Shepard's historic flight in 1961.
The astronauts scheduled for this mission are Butch Wilmore, a retired Navy captain, and Sunita Williams, a former Naval test pilot, who have accumulated significant spaceflight experience between them.
Williams, aged 58, has flown over 30 different aircraft and spent a total of 322 days in space over two missions, while Wilmore, aged 61, has spent 178 days in space across two missions as well.
This mission serves as the first crewed flight for the Starliner spacecraft and aims to test its end-to-end capabilities, including launch, docking, and return to Earth in the western United States.
Following a successful crewed flight test, NASA will proceed with the final certification of the Starliner and its systems for future crewed missions to the ISS.
In 2019, an attempt to send an uncrewed Starliner to the ISS faced failure due to software and engineering issues, resulting in an early return to Earth.
The launch is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. EDT on May 6, which translates to 8:04 a.m. IST on May 7, with live coverage available on NASA's YouTube channel.