Dad of 2 Returns to Space as Boeing Successfully Launches Their First Crewed Flight
The flight marks the sixth inaugural journey of a crewed spacecraft in U.S. history
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has lifted off!
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who faced multiple delays in their own quests to return to space — are set to rendezvous with the International Space Station after the Starliner successfully launched on Wednesday, June 5 at 10:52 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida's Space Coast.
“With Starliner’s launch, separation from the rocket and arrival on orbit, Boeing’s Crew Flight Test is right on track,” Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a news release. “Everyone is focused on giving Suni and Butch a safe, comfortable ride and performing a successful test mission from start to finish.”
The flight marks the sixth inaugural journey of a crewed spacecraft in U.S. history, NASA said in a press conference last month.
“It started with Mercury, then with Gemini, then with Apollo, the space shuttle, then (SpaceX’s) Dragon — and now Starliner,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5, 2024.Wilmore, 61, and Williams are both veteran Navy test pilots and have four earlier space flights, 11 spacewalks and a combined 500 hours of orbit between them. They had been training and quarantining in Houston while awaiting the opportunity to return to space.
Among Wilmore's accomplishments, he served as a pilot aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009. The Tennessee native is also married and has two daughters, according to his NASA biography.
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni WilliamsWilliams, 58, joined NASA in 1998 and ranks second on the list of total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut, with 50 hours and 40 minutes, per NASA.
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The launch was delayed two previous times: On Monday, May 6, the astronauts were strapped into the spacecraft and hours away from launch when the test flight was canceled because of an issue with the Atlas V rocket, which helps propel the vehicle, according to NBC News.
While working to address the problem, a helium leak in the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system was discovered, NASA reported.
On Saturday, June 1, the spacecraft was less than four minutes away from liftoff when the ground launch sequencer — the computer that launches the rocket — triggered an automatic hold.
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The good news for Boeing comes amid a string of serious incidents involving its airplanes that have called the company's safety measures into question, including in January, when Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had a plug door — part of its fuselage — blow out mid-air on its way from Oregon to California.
The Starliner will travel just over 24 hours before meeting up with cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin, along with NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Tracy Dyson at the space station.
The Starliner is scheduled to return to Earth and land at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range on June 14.
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