Boeing's Starliner space capsule launched on key test flight to orbit - CGTN

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule is launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on a second uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., May 19, 2022.

Boeing's new Starliner capsule was launched Thursday on a do-over uncrewed test flight bound for the International Space Station, aiming to deliver the company a much-needed success after more than two years of delays and costly engineering setbacks.

About 30 minutes after lift-off, Boeing's Starliner space capsule launched on key test flight to orbit and flying on its own power to a planned rendezvous with the space station.

A successful mission will move the long-delayed Starliner a major step closer to providing NASA with a second reliable means of ferrying astronauts to and from the space station.

space agency has had to rely solely on the Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon capsules from Elon Musk's company SpaceX to fly NASA astronauts.

The Starliner program alone has forced Boeing to take $595 million in charges since the failure of its first uncrewed test flight to orbit in 2019.

The capsule was carrying a research mannequin, whimsically named Rosie the Rocketeer and dressed in a blue flight suit, to collect data on crew cabin conditions during the journey, plus 227 kilograms of cargo for the space station's crew - three NASA astronauts, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy and three Russian cosmonauts.

If the second uncrewed trip to orbit succeeds, Starliner could fly its first team of astronauts in the fall, although NASA officials caution that time frame could get pushed back