Boeing attempts uncrewed test flight to International space station for second time
New Delhi : Boeing will be aiming to get its spaceflight mission back on track as it attempted an uncrewed test flight of its Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS), after its last such test in 2019 ended in failure.
The spaceship is due to launch on an Atlas V rocket built by the United Launch Alliance from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:20 pm Eastern time (1720 GMT).
A livestream of the mission, Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), will be up on NASA's website.
Soon after the launch, nearly after 30 minutes, the Starliner capsule will fire its thrusters to enter orbit and begin a daylong trip to the space station, with docking set for 1:37 pm on Wednesday.
With clouds and the possibility of rain, there are 60 per cent chances of the launch.
The test flight was supposed to take place Friday but had to be rescheduled after a Russian science module inadvertently fired its thrusters following docking with the ISS, sending the orbital outpost out of its normal orientation.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, told reporters last week he had confidence this time around.
"We want it to go well, we expect it to go well, and we've done all the preparations we can possibly do," he said.
"Starliner is a great vehicle, but we know how hard it is, and it's a test flight as well and I fully expect we'll learn something on this test flight."
