The first passenger to fly aboard Boeing’s Starliner will be Rosie the Rocketeer, a mannequin set to blast off to the International Space Station aboard the capsule on Thursday evening. If she makes the trip safely, NASA astronauts will be cleared for future flights on the new spacecraft.
A successful uncrewed demonstration will make Boeing the second private company allowed to ferry NASA crews to the ISS and will make Starliner a full-fledged competitor to SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule. “We’re excited to fly. Starliner’s a great vehicle. Really, the only way to get the final piece of data you need to fly crew is to go fly in the environment
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