With Starliner's arrival, NASA finally realizes its longtime effort to have crew capsules from competing U.S. companies flying to the space station.
The only other time Boeing's Starliner flew in space, it never got anywhere near the station, ending up in the wrong orbit. NASA wants redundancy when it comes to the Florida-based astronaut taxi service. Administrator Bill Nelson said Boeing's long road with Starliner underscores the importance of having two types of crew capsules. U.S. astronauts were stuck riding Russian rockets once the shuttle program ended, until SpaceX's first crew flight in 2020.
Once Starliner was within 10 miles of the space station, Boeing flight controllers in Houston could see the space station through the capsule's cameras. “We're waving. Can you see us?” joked Hines.
boing earle.
the same boeing that made 747 max 8?