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Boeing Starliner astronauts are one week away from launch
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sonny Williams completed major training for the Boeing Starliner mission on Friday (April 26) near the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their training continues in quarantine for the scheduled launch on May 6 to the International Space Station, a week from today.
Williams and Wilmore also recently conducted a video tour of one of their simulators, called the Boeing Mission Trainer, to demonstrate launch and landing procedures. The simulator is located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Their mission, the Crew Flight Test, passed its latest flight readiness review on Thursday (April 25), although as with all launches, safety and weather checks will continue throughout liftoff. The mission is expected to last about a week to certify future semi-annual operational flights, starting with Starliner-1 in 2025.
Read more: Boeing Starliner astronauts train ahead of launch on May 6 (photos and video)
Starliner I astronauts finish training ahead of launch on May 6
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams have completed major training ahead of their historic launch aboard a Boeing Starliner no later than May 6, agency officials said Friday (April 26), hours after the training ended.
“Wilmore and Williams completed a series of launch day milestones including suiting up, working in the flight deck simulator, and running the same software that will be used during launch.” NASA officials wrote In a blog post on Friday (April 26).
The exercise took place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Florida, and included performing a countdown with the Starliner spacecraft, located atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will carry it to the International Space Station (ISS).
The week-long flight test crew passed its latest flight readiness review with NASA on Thursday (April 25). The CFT, the first Starliner mission with astronauts, aims to certify the spacecraft for six-month missions to the International Space Station that could begin in 2025. Read more about Starliner's “launch launch” here on Space.com.
Starliner astronauts arrive at the launch site
The two NASA astronauts who will fly aboard Boeing's first crewed Starliner spacecraft have arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for their historic launch to the International Space Station on May 6.
Boeing Starliner flight test pilot Butch Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams landed their NASA T-38 supersonic plane at the space center's Launch and Landing Facility after a short flight from Ellington Field in Houston near the Johnson Space Center.
The astronauts will be launched to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft and an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near KSC. Their one-week mission to the International Space Station is a final cruise for Boeing's Starliner vehicle to prove it is ready for operational NASA crew flights. At the end of the mission, the Starliner will parachute back to Earth and make a landing in the southwestern United States.
