The first crewed flight of Boeing Co‘s BA Starliner spacecraft is reportedly scheduled for mid-April.
What Happened: NASA’s Commercial Space Division Director Phil McAlister said that the mission could launch as soon as April 14. He was speaking at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's human exploration and operations committee, SPACENEWS reported.
"We are on track for that launch," he said. "We've still got a lot of things to do, obviously."
The mission which would fly Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the international space station was previously scheduled to take place this year but was delayed citing an issue with the parachute.
During the demonstration mission, it is expected to be launched atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket from Florida and return eight days later.
Why It Matters: On a successful first flight with crew, NASA will certify Starliner as an operational crew system for crew rotation missions to the space station together with SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
NASA awarded Boeing with a $4.2 billion fixed-price contract to develop the Starliner in 2014 as part of its commercial crew program. A similar contract was also awarded to Musk’s SpaceX for about $2.6 billion. SpaceX is now already gearing up for its eighth operational crew rotation to the International Space Station (ISS).
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