Nearly a month after a frustrating launch scrub, the Starliner and its two-person crew were cleared for a second attempt to reach orbit.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was fueled for a second launch try Saturday to boost on the oft-delayed crew capsule’s first piloted test flight, a voyage to the International Space Station.
With NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams monitoring the ship’s automated ascent, the workhorse Atlas 5 was scheduled for liftoff from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:25 p.m. EDT, roughly the moment Earth’s rotation carried the pad into alignment with the space station’s orbit.
If all goes well, the Starliner will catch up with the station Sunday and dock at the lab’s forward port around 1:50 p.m. Wilmore and Williams plan to return to Earth on June 10.
The long-awaited flight will be the first piloted launch of an Atlas 5 and the first for the Atlas family of rockets since astronaut Gordon Cooper took off just a few miles away on the Mercury program’s final flight 61 years ago.
