STORY: :: Boeing launches Starliner capsule carrying two astronauts

to the International Space Station after multiple delays

:: June 5, 2024

:: Cape Canaveral, Florida

The CST-100 Starliner lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, strapped to an Atlas V rocket furnished and flown by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) as Boeing steps up its competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule and its crew were headed for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), two years after the Starliner completed its first test voyage to the orbital laboratory without astronauts aboard. Docking maneuvers with crew will pose another test for Starliner, followed roughly a week later by the test of returning to Earth.

Boeing intends for Starliner to compete with SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which since 2020 has been NASA's only vehicle for sending ISS crew members to orbit from U.S. soil.