Live updates: Boeing Starliner set to launch its first crewed mission

The launch is part of NASA’s “commercial crew program,” which outsourced transportation to the International Space Station to two companies, Boeing and SpaceX, which has been flying crews for NASA since 2020.

The astronauts, Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, are NASA veterans who are to spend about eight days on the space station before returning to Earth on the Starliner capsule.

The mission is a test flight, designed to see how the spacecraft operates in space. If it is completed successfully, Boeing will join SpaceX in flying regular crew rotation missions to the station carrying a full contingent of four astronauts.