Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore will fly to space as the first crewed mission on Boeing's Starliner.
Williams and Wilmore will launch NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test aboard the company's Starliner spacecraft atop a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket from the Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
As part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Williams and Wilmore are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
The flight test, targeted for launch at 10:34 pm EDT on Monday, May 6 (8.04 am IST, May 7), serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing's crew transportation system and will carry Williams and Wilmore to and from the orbiting laboratory.
IMAGE: NASA astronauts Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore participate in a virtual media engagement event from inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Photograph: Kind courtesy Joel Kowsky/NASA
IMAGE: Butch and Suni, Boeing Crew Flight Test commander and pilot, speak while watching Boeing's Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the launch pad of the Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, May 4, 2024, ahead of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. Photograph: Kind courtesy Joel Kowsky/NASA
IMAGE: Butch and Suni pose for a picture after the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard was rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at the Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Photograph: Kind courtesy Joel Kowsky/NASA
IMAGE: Butch and Suni are seen after the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket was intergrated with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on the launch pad. Photograph: Kind courtesy Joel Kowsky/NASA
IMAGE: Butch and Suni in front of the T-38 aircraft.
Both wore blue space suits with patches on them, dark brown boots and straps around their legs and upper body. Photograph: Kind courtesy Robert Markowitz/NASA/Instagram
IMAGE: Sunita Williams checks her suit. Photograph: NASA/ANI
IMAGE: Butch and Suni during Suited Post-Landing Emergency Egress in the Boeing Starliner Mockup at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bill Stafford/NASA/Instagram
IMAGE: Butch and Suni during Suited EMER SIM Operations in the Boeing Starliner simulator at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Photograph: Kind courtesy Robert Markowitz/NASA/Instagram
IMAGE: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Photograph: Kind courtesy Joel Kowsky/NASA
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com