NASA is preparing for the first manned launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station

As part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, the agency is preparing for Boeing's first crewed flight test launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-April. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams will travel aboard a Starliner powered by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket to the orbiting laboratory, where they will remain for up to two weeks. The launch is scheduled to take place from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The mission will test the Starliner system's comprehensive capabilities, including launch, docking and return to Earth in the desert of the western United States. After the success of the mission… NASA will begin the final Starliner certification process and manned mission systems to the space station.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program works with the US aerospace industry through a public-private partnership to launch astronauts on US rockets and spacecraft from US soil. The goal of the program is Providing safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation on space station missionswhich will allow additional time for research.