Boeing Starliner Spacecraft to Launch First Astronaut Mission in May 2024

NASA Sets Target Date for Historic Spaceflight

Unmanned Mission to Pave the Way for Future Human Exploration

In a significant development for the U.S. space program, NASA has announced that Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will launch its first-ever astronaut mission on May 6, 2024, aboard an Atlas V rocket. This marks a major milestone in Boeing's efforts to develop a commercial crew vehicle capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Originally scheduled for launch in 2021, the mission has faced several delays due to technical issues and software glitches. The upcoming launch will be uncrewed, serving as a test flight to demonstrate the spacecraft's capabilities before carrying astronauts.

If successful, the mission will pave the way for Boeing to begin regular astronaut rotation flights to the ISS, providing NASA with a second commercial crew transportation system alongside SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule.