The American aerospace company Boeing has successfully launched its new capsule “Starliner” (Starliner) to the International Space Station, designed to deliver a man into orbit. The American space agency NASA hopes that this device, along with SpaceX’s Dragon, will help the United States implement its own space flight program and get rid of dependence on Russia to deliver cargo and people to the ISS.

The Starliner launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 18:54 local time (22:54 GMT, 01:54 Moscow Friday), it was launched into orbit by an Atlas V rocket manufactured by the joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA ) created by Boeing and another aerospace giant, Lockheed Martin. The ship will take about a day to reach the ISS.

So far, there are no real astronauts on board the capsule, since this flight is a test one. The only “inhabitant” of the ship was a mannequin in a spacesuit, which the developers called “Rocket Girl Rosie”.

This is Boeing’s second attempt to successfully test its new spacecraft. The first launch, which took place in December 2019, ended in failure.

Then, an error occurred on the on-board computer in accounting for the flight time, as a result of which the Starliner engines began to work earlier than expected and burned so much fuel that it would no longer be enough to travel and dock with the International Space Station. At the same time, the mission control center noticed this problem, but could not establish proper communication with the ship and change its mode of operation.

In addition, during the flight it turned out that due to software shortcomings, there was a threat of a collision between the ship and its tail section, which must be separated before returning to the earth’s atmosphere. Fortunately for the engineers, this mistake was corrected in time, and the Starliner landed safely in the desert in New Mexico.

After the unsuccessful flight, engineers and programmers made several changes to the ship’s system, which made it possible to carry out a second attempt to put the Starliner into orbit.

Unlike the previous attempt, about half an hour after the launch, the Starliner successfully separated from the launch vehicle, entered a preliminary orbit and headed for the ISS. In 2019, the problems with the ship began at this stage.

However, even the current flight was not without trouble. During the 45-second procedure for entering orbit, two jet engines out of 12 did not work. But spare engines turned on instead – and the maneuver was successfully completed.

At a press conference, representatives of NASA and Boeing said that they had not yet established the causes of the malfunctions, but these problems should not become an obstacle to the successful operation of the Starliner. “The system is designed in such a way that it has a margin of safety – and it worked as it should,” said program manager Mark Nappi. “We have a reliable ship – and we went to the ISS.”

The Starliner program was presented almost 12 years ago and was a response to NASA’s decision to entrust the development of spacecraft to deliver a person into orbit to commercial companies, rather than government agencies. The contract for this task went to Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

But if Musk has already sent four manned missions to the ISS, Boeing has not yet completed even one successful test flight.

The company last attempted to launch its Starliner in August last year, but the test had to be rescheduled due to engine valve problems. Engineers have yet to solve this problem once and for all – but for now they have given the green light to the current tests by finding a temporary solution.

It is assumed that the Starliner will dock with the ISS and spend 4-5 days at the station, after which it will return to Earth by parachute. If all goes according to plan, the landing could take place next week on Wednesday.

A successful test of the spacecraft could make it possible to carry out its first flight with astronauts on board before the end of this year. And then NASA will have two of its own systems for sending a man into space.

“First of all, it is important for us to complete this particular mission,” said NASA spokeswoman Kathy Lueders of today’s Starliner test. “We need to take off, test this spacecraft without a person on board, demonstrate the successful operation of automatic systems and return.”

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