Starliner on track for first crewed flight in April of 2023

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — In just a few months, NASA will launch two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of its Commercial Crew Program.

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It’s all coming together 🤝 for #Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT)!

Watch the mating of our crew and service modules and learn more about the production milestone here: https://t.co/WiTll2u5Op pic.twitter.com/H5zdCxe723
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) January 24, 2023

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams will fly aboard Starliner and dock with the International space station while performing several tests of critical systems before returning to earth.

WATCH: Boeing successfully launches Starliner from Space Coast

The capsule is scheduled to launch sometime in April of 2023 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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Boeing Commercial Crew Program A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) (BH1CT34961/Boeing)

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The mission will be to test the capabilities of the Starliner system before beginning regular crew flights to the ISS.

On Jan 19, the crew and service modules of the CST-100 Starliner were connected at Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.

Read: NASA sets date for SpaceX Crew-6 launch to International Space Station

Starliner is the first human-rated spacecraft to be entirely manufactured in Central Florida.

VIDEO: NASA’s Artemis I rocket begins journey to moon NASA and others around the world are celebrating another historic moment on Florida’s Space Coast. (Q McCray, WFTV.com/WFTV)

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