{"id":33901,"date":"2024-06-06T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=33901"},"modified":"2024-06-06T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:28:10","slug":"sa-astronauts-launched-into-space-on-boeing-spacecraft-in-tense-liftoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/06\/06\/sa-astronauts-launched-into-space-on-boeing-spacecraft-in-tense-liftoff\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Astronauts Launched into Space on Boeing Spacecraft in Tense Liftoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Emmanuel Ogbodo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

US astronauts Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore and Sunita \u201cSuni\u201d Williams launched into space on a new Boeing spaceship on Wednesday after a series of launch delays and spacecraft mishaps that have plagued the program for over a decade.<\/p>\n

Following two previous launch attempts that failed within the past month, the third attempt proceeded successfully with a trouble-free countdown. Starliner\u2019s first crewed test flight blasted off at 10:52 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This marks the sixth time in history that NASA astronauts have ventured into space on a new type of vehicle.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft was launched by United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket, which propelled the capsule skyward with massive flames trailing behind it. NASA confirmed that the ship, named Calypso by Williams, entered space just minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuni and I are honored to share this dream of spaceflight with each and every one of you,\u201d Wilmore stated moments before launch. “Let’s put some fire in this rocket, let’s push it to the heavens where all these tough Americans are prepared to be.”<\/p>\n

If the flight proceeds as planned, Wilmore and Williams will arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday and will remain at the orbiting laboratory, approximately 250 miles above Earth, for about one week. Notably, Williams is the first woman to pilot a new orbital spacecraft.<\/p>\n

For their return, Boeing will land the astronauts at the Army\u2019s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, using parachutes and airbags to ensure a safe landing on the desert terrain, rather than an ocean splashdown like SpaceX\u2019s Starship.<\/p>\n

In 2014, NASA contracted Boeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. While SpaceX successfully launched its Crew Dragon capsule four years ago and has since ferried over 50 people into orbit, Boeing has faced a series of setbacks with its Starliner spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Recent launch delays were due to issues with the rocket rather than the Starliner capsule itself. On Saturday, a launch was aborted when the ground computer controlling the rocket activated the final countdown sequence. Teams then replaced a faulty power distribution unit and cleared the rocket for another attempt this week.<\/p>\n

A successful flight of the Starliner would establish another commercial option for transporting astronauts into space. After NASA\u2019s space shuttle program ended in 2011, the agency relied on Russian rockets to reach the space station. While SpaceX has been providing transportation since last year, NASA aims to have an alternative to ensure continued access to space.<\/p>\n

Once certified, Starliner missions can transport up to four astronauts to the ISS, enhancing the research capabilities at the microgravity facility.<\/p>\n

“Right now, we only have two ways to get humans into space: with the Soyuz and our Russian partners, and we all know that our relationship with the Russian Federation is a little bit tricky,” said Mike Fincke, an alternate NASA astronaut for the Starliner crew. “This redundant way to go ensures that if something goes wrong with any provider, we still can get people up and down to the International Space Station.”<\/p>\n

Starliner is also carrying about 800 pounds of cargo, including food, water, clothes, exercise equipment, medical supplies, photography equipment, tools, and a flash drive containing 3,500 photos of children\u2019s drawings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emmanuel Ogbodo US astronauts Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore and Sunita \u201cSuni\u201d Williams launched into space on a new Boeing spaceship on Wednesday after a series of launch delays and spacecraft mishaps that have plagued the program for over a decade. Following two previous launch attempts that failed within the past month, the third attempt proceeded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":33905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33906,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33901\/revisions\/33906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}