The seven Expedition 71 crew members gather with the two Crew Flight Test members for a team portrait aboard the space station. In the front from left are, Suni Williams, Oleg Kononenko, and Butch Wilmore. Second row from left are, Alexander Grebenkin, Tracy C. Dyson, and Mike Barratt. In the back are, Nikolai Chub, Jeanette Epps, and Matthew Dominick. Photo credit: NASA Television
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams entered the International Space Station at 3:45 p.m. EDT.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft, successfully docked to the International Space Station at 1:34 p.m. The spacecraft launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 10:52 a.m. June 5 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA will provide coverage of the post-docking news conference at 5 p.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the mission is the first crewed flight for the Starliner spacecraft. Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft with two NASA astronauts aboard approaches the space station for an autonomous docking as it orbited 257 miles above the South Pacific Ocean.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, successfully docked to the International Space Station at 1:34 p.m. EDT. Starliner launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 10:52 a.m., June 5 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
During flight, Wilmore and Williams successfully performed manual piloting demonstrations of Starliner and completed a sleep period. Prior to crew sleep, mission teams identified three helium leaks in the spacecraft. One of these was previously discussed before flight along with a management plan, and the other two occured when the spacecraft arrived in orbit. To monitor and manage these leaks, the three helium manifolds were closed in flight during the crew’s sleep period and were all reopened ahead of rendezvous and docking operations. After docking, all Starliner manifolds are closed per normal plans.
As Starliner began its approach to the space station, five reaction control system thrusters failed off during flight. Mission teams performed a series of hot-fire tests which re-enabled four of the thrusters while the crew manually piloted the spacecraft at the station’s 200-meter hold point. After re-selecting four of the thrusters, Starliner had the fault tolerance required to approach the space station for docking. At the 10-meter hold point, the mission team completed system readiness evaluations and proceeded with docking.
Starliner’s hatch opening will begin about 3:20 p.m., with welcome remarks to follow.
NASA will continue coverage on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
NASA will host a post-docking media conference at approximately 5 p.m. with the following participants:
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA’s International Space Station Office
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for docking on June 6, 2024. Credit: NASA TV
NASA’s coverage of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft flight to the International Space Station continues on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. The Starliner spacecraft is performing its careful approach to the space station with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. After conducting a series of reaction control system thruster tests, four thrusters were recovered from five that had gone out. The spacecraft will conduct a planned hold at 10 meters from its station docking port to assess readiness. The second docking window opens at 1:33 p.m. ET.
Boeing’s Starliner crew ship approaches the space station during the company’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 mission on May 20, 2022.
NASA’s arrival coverage of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station is now underway on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Docking is scheduled at approximately 12:15 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 6.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched safely on the Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 10:52 a.m. June 5 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The Starliner crew continues to make their way to the space station. During flight, Wilmore and Williams successfully performed manual piloting demonstrations of Starliner and completed a sleep period. Prior to crew sleep, mission teams identified three helium leaks in the spacecraft. One of these was previously discussed before flight along with a management plan, and the other two are new since the spacecraft arrived in orbit. To monitor and manage these leaks, the three helium manifolds were isolated. Those manifolds have all been reopened prior to a Starliner height adjust burn, called NHPC. All affected manifolds will remain open for rendezvous and docking operations.
Following in-flight reviews of the mission and helium leaks, the Starliner and International Space Station mission management teams are “go” to proceed with space station arrival. The flight control team will continue to monitor the leak rates in Starliner’s propulsion system. After docking, all of Starliner manifolds will be closed per normal plans. All other Starliner systems are functioning normally.
NASA’s arrival and in-flight event coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
12:15 p.m. – Targeted docking
2 p.m. – Hatch opening
2:20 p.m. – Welcome remarks
3:30 p.m. – Post-docking news conference at NASA Johnson with the following participants:
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA’s International Space Station Office
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing
Coverage of the post-docking news conference will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
To attend the post-docking briefing, U.S. media must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom at: jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov or 281-483-5111 by 1 p.m. June 6. To join by phone, media must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom by 3 p.m. June 6.
5:50 p.m. – NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Associate Administrator Jim Free, Associate Administrator for Space Operations Ken Bowersox, and Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche will speak with Wilmore and Williams about their launch aboard the Starliner spacecraft.
Coverage of the Earth to space call will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft launches NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Photo credit: NASA Television
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station!
The capsule, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, commander, and Suni Williams, pilot, is expected to reach the orbiting laboratory at 12:15 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 6.
A postlaunch news conference will be held at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. with the following participants:
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing
Tory Bruno, president and CEO, ULA
Coverage of the postlaunch news conference will air live on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Once the postlaunch news conference is complete, NASA+ coverage will end, and mission coverage will continue on both NASA channels. NASA+ coverage will resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, June 6, as Starliner approaches the space station for a docking to the forward-facing port of the Harmony module.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket booster separates from the Centaur upper stage carrying Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Photo credit: NASA Television
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket booster has separated from the Centaur upper stage carrying Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The Centaur will continue to help propel Boeing’s Starliner to a suborbit before the spacecraft boosts itself to orbit, bringing it closer to the International Space Station.
Measuring 10 feet in diameter and 41.5 feet in length, the Centaur upper stage uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its twin Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A-4-2 engines. The burn of the Centaur’s dual engines is expected to last a little more than seven minutes before engine cutoff and separation from Starliner. Following separation, the crew capsule carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be on its own for the remainder of the journey to the space station.
Following its separation, the Atlas Centaur will land in the ocean near Australia.
NASA Television will provide continuous coverage leading up to docking at the space station and through hatch opening and welcome remarks.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing’s Starliner capsule with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams has reached Max Q. The milestone is the moment of peak aerodynamic pressure on the rocket.
Following Max Q will be Atlas V booster engine cutoff and separation.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket soars from the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:52 a.m. ET Wednesday, June 5, 2024, carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA Television
We have liftoff! The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, commander, and Suni Williams, pilot, are on a course to the International Space Station.
The crew is on a roughly 25.5-hour journey with rendezvous and docking expected at 12:15 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 6.
The crew flight test mission makes history in several ways. As the first crewed launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, Williams is the first female astronaut to fly on the first flight of a crewed spacecraft. The launch also marks the first crewed launch on the ULA Atlas V rocket and the first crewed launch on an Atlas-family class rocket since Gordon Cooper on the last Mercury program flight aboard “Faith 7” in May 1963.
Next up is Max Q, or the moment of peak aerodynamic pressure on the rocket.
Launch coverage on NASA+ will end shortly after Starliner orbital insertion, happening about 30 minutes from now. NASA Television will provide continuous coverage leading up to docking at the space station and through hatch opening and welcome remarks.
The crew access arm retracts from Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Photo credit: NASA Television
We’re just minutes away from liftoff of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test that will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
At Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the crew access arm has retracted on the crew access tower.
The crew access arm lines up with the hatch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, and it’s designed to rotate and retract at various speeds. The arm provides entry and emergency egress for astronauts and technicians into and out of the spacecraft.
Liftoff of Boeing’s Starliner on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket remains on schedule for 10:52 a.m. EDT.
Boeing crews close the hatch to the Starliner capsule carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Photo credit: NASA Television
Just about one hour remains ahead of liftoff of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station.
Communication checks with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are complete. The hatch is now closed on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, named Calypso. Next up, a series of cabin leak checks and a cabin pressurization check will be completed.
For NASA missions to low Earth orbit, the Starliner capsule, with a diameter of 15 feet (4.56m), will hold four astronauts or a mix of crew and cargo.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore inside Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft ahead of launch on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Photo credit: NASA Television
Inside Starliner for this mission is about 759 pounds of cargo, which includes food, clothing, exercise gear, medical supplies, photo and media equipment, vehicle supplies and tools, and other items. A thumb drive containing about 3,500 images of artwork from children in 35 states and 66 different countries is also set to launch aboard Starliner tonight.
Wilmore is flying with two gold rings he had made for his father and brother that resemble the U.S. Navy astronaut pilot wing pin. He also brought shirts from his alma maters, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee. Williams brought shirts from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Sunita L. Williams Elementary School in Needham, Massachusetts. She also has a diver pin and two dog tags from her Labrador retrievers.
At 10:52 a.m. EDT, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the Starliner crew capsule from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following a roughly 25-hour journey, Starliner will rendezvous and dock with the space station at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, June 6.
Watch live coverage of today’s mission on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
