Boeing says Starliner spacecraft completes successful launch

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams became the first people to launch to orbit inside a Boeing Starliner, lifting off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:52am ET and embarking on a 25-hour flight to the International Space Station. The launch marks the beginning of the NASA-Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test. “This crew flight test represents the beginning of a new era of space exploration as we watch astronauts Wilmore and Williams put Boeing’s Starliner through its paces on the way to the International Space Station,” said Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Ted Colbert. “This is a great start. We look forward to getting the astronauts safely to the space station and back home.” Wilmore and Williams are also the first to launch on an Atlas V rocket and are currently experiencing microgravity on their way to the space station. They will conduct a series of flight test objectives, including manually flying Starliner.