Boeing’s Starliner capsule spacecraft at the International Space Station (ISS) is officially open to astronauts for the first time.

Starliner arrived at the ISS on an uncrewed test flight on 20 May and was opened by NASA astronaut Robert Hines.

“This is a momentous day in NASA's history and just paving the way for the future as we start enabling commercial flights here in low Earth orbit while NASA visits to the moon and eventually on to Mars,” Hines said.

The official opening of hatches separating the two spacecraft cues up five days’ testing on Boeing’s capsule.

The opening marks a significant milestone for Boeing and NASA's Commercial Crew Programme, which selected Boeing and SpaceX to fly astronauts to the ISS in 2014.

SpaceX has flown five astronaut flights for NASA since May 2020, yet Boeing's Starliner has had a more troubled road in reaching the ISS.

Starliner was unable to reach the ISS during its first test in in December 2019 due to software glitches, and its second attempt in August 2021 was scrapped after the mission team discovered stuck valves in the capsule's propulsion system.

None of the issues reoccurred on the most recent voyage.

"Those are the kinds of things we expect in flight test and that is why we test," said Hines. "If we didn't find something like that, we're probably doing something wrong."

Share Story: