Boeing successfully launches Starliner rocket for NASA in 2nd attempt after 2019 mishap

The United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V-rocket rolled lifted off with Boeing’s Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday. The engines of an Atlas 5 rocket roared from a launching pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 pm Eastern time taking the Starliner to orbit. Thirty-two minutes after the liftoff, the rocket safely entered orbit and is set to reach its destination after almost a day-long journey.

The liftoff of the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V-rocket rolled lifted off with Boeing’s Starliner capsule to the ISS is significant as it is Boeing’s make or break chance. Notably, this mission named Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Boeing's second launch attempt to the space station after the first one ended in a failure in 2019. The spacecraft, which was built for NASA to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station, is now being tested without astronauts to show that its systems are safe to use.

Starliner reaches orbit with Rosie the Rocketeer

It is pertinent to note that the aerospace company’s previous two attempts to undertake that preparatory journey were faced by serious technical problems. The first test flight in December 2019 and the second in August 2021 ended in failure costing hundreds of millions of dollars for the company. Notably, Boeing is in direct contention with Elon Musk's founded SpaceX, the newer space company that has already carried five NASA crews to orbit since Boeing’s first test flight.

If the Boeing flight travels to USS and back safely, it will provide NASA with sufficient data to certify whether the spacecraft can safely carry people into space. Although the current mission does not carry any astronauts, the Starliner does have a mannequin named Rosie the Rocketeer seated inside. Both Boeing and NASA officials, in their updates, have confirmed that the flight have gone well so far.

OFT-2 will test Starliner's end-to-end capabilities

NASA had earlier said that the mission would test the Starliner capsule and Atlas rocket's end-to-end capabilities from launch to docking to a return to Earth and landing in the desert. This launch was conducted under NASA's Commercial Crew Program wherein the agency is looking for private launch providers to transport astronauts and supplies to and from the space station. Boeing is eyeing a license from NASA, which it would acquire only after proving its readiness for manned spaceflight missions. 

In 2019, the company had launched a spacecraft to the ISS but it failed to dock. Boeing, along with SpaceX, was awarded a contract by NASA for the procurement of launch vehicles but the mission failure stalled the company's acquisition of a NASA license. The new 172-foot-tall Atlas rocket launched the Starliner at a speed of 28,123 kilometres per hour. The company even shared the rocket being launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on social media.

Image: TWITTER