Launch of Boeing's Starliner Crew Flight Test mission: a success!

On June 5, 2024, the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launched from Florida aboard the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the Crew Flight Test, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS). (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

2024-06-05

Today, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft crewed mission successfully launched to the ISS with Canadian Space Agency Joshua Kutryk as capcom for the ascent and orbital insertion, and with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams onboard. The crew took off onboard the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5th at 10:52 am ET, and is scheduled to autonomously dock to the ISS tomorrow.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will live and work for about a week aboard the ISS alongside the Expedition 71 crew before coming back on Earth. While in space, they will conduct tests on various systems and gather data. This information will be essential to certify the spacecraft as an operational crew system for long-duration rotation missions to the ISS.

Scheduled in 2025, Starliner-1 will be the first operational mission of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, and Joshua Kutryk will become the first Canadian astronaut to be part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.