Boeing's newly launched "Starliner" capsule, along with a NASA maiden flight team consisting of two astronauts, safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday. This successful docking was a critical test of the capsule's flight reliability and ignited competition between Boeing and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Despite some guidance control thrusters failing earlier due to a helium propellant leak, NASA and Boeing stated that this should not affect the mission's successful completion.
The CST-100 "Starliner," carrying veteran astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, reached the orbital platform nearly 27 hours after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The reusable capsule-shaped spacecraft, named "Calypso" by astronauts, was launched into space on Wednesday by an Atlas V rocket from the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint launch alliance.
It autonomously docked with the International Space Station at 1:34 PM Eastern Time (1734 GMT) while both spacecraft were orbiting the Earth in sync at about 17,500 miles (28,160 kilometers) per hour, approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the southern Indian Ocean.
As the spacecraft approached and docked with the ISS, Wilmore briefly took manual control of the capsule, a process displayed in NASA's live broadcast.
"It’s great to connect to the big city in the sky," Wilmore radioed to the mission control center in Houston shortly after docking.
Upon arrival, the 58-year-old Wilmore and 61-year-old Williams spent about two hours conducting a series of standard procedures such as checking for airlock leaks and pressurizing the passage between the capsule and the ISS before opening the entry hatch.
