Astronauts launch for space station after being sidelined by Boeing’s troubled Starliner
Catching a ride in a SpaceX capsule, a US-Japanese-Russian crew of four rocketed from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre
Astronauts sidelined for the past year by Boeing’s Starliner trouble blasted off to the International Space Station on Friday, getting a lift from SpaceX.
The US-Japanese-Russian crew of four rocketed from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre. They will replace colleagues who launched to the space station in March as fill-ins for Nasa’s two stuck astronauts.
Their SpaceX capsule should reach the orbiting lab this weekend and stay for at least six months.
Zena Cardman, a biologist and polar explorer who should have launched last year, was yanked along with another Nasa crewmate to make room for Starliner’s star-crossed test pilots.
“I have no emotion but joy right now. That was absolutely transcendent. Ride of a lifetime,” Cardman, the flight commander, said after reaching orbit.
The botched Starliner demo forced Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to switch to SpaceX to get back from the space station more than nine months after departing on what should have been a week-long trip.