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Excerpt from timesofindia.indiatimes.com
NEW DELHI: After numerous setbacks and delays, Boeing is finally ready to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on behalf of Nasa. This marks the inaugural crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, with two Nasa pilots on board to evaluate the spacecraft during the test mission and a week-long stay at the space station.
Following the retirement of the space shuttles, Nasa turned to American companies to provide transportation for astronauts.While SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, has completed nine successful crew missions for Nasa since 2020, Boeing has only managed two uncrewed test flights.
“There’s no doubt about that, but we’re here now,” acknowledged Mark Nappi, Boeing’s program manager, expressing his wish that Starliner was further along in its development.
The long-awaited crewed demonstration mission is scheduled for launch on Monday night. If the test flight goes smoothly, Nasa plans to alternate between Boeing and SpaceX for future astronaut transportation to and from the space station.
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