A ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida set for June 5, 2024. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft and ULA Atlas V rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
For SpaceUpClose & RocketSTEM
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Hopefully the third time is the charm for the maiden crewed launch the Boeing Starliner commercial crew capsule on a test flight carrying two veteran NASA astronauts to the ISS now targeting Wednesday June 5.
Following two earlier scrubs the Starliner capsule named Calypso is set for liftoff of the CFT or Crew Flight Test Mission at 10:52 p.m. ET on June 5, 2024 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida
The first Starliner flight with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams is known as NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test
ULA Atlas V rocket topped by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft aboard stands vertical on Space Launch Complex-41 ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida set for June 5, 2024. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft and ULA Atlas V rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
Their mission to the International Space Station is set to last for about a one week stay aboard the microgravity laboratory.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.
Watch: Ken Kremer live interview on BBC World News about SpaceX Starship IFT-6 post launch test flight results from Nov 19 launch from Starbase, Texas and implications for the future for NASA, Elon Musk & President-elect Trump. Interview done post launch on 20 November 2024
For SpaceUpClose & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE, FL – Watch my complete live LiveNOW from FOX video interview with host Austin Westfall about NASA’s decision on Saturday Aug. 24 to bring NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore & Suni Williams home from ISS on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in Feb 2025 for safety reasons – instead of the Boeing Starliner they originally launched on
