NASA announced on Thursday that the inaugural crewed voyage of the Boeing Starliner is proceeding as planned, bound for the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on board.
Expected to reach the ISS around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, the capsule with NASA's crew is set to dock with the Harmony module's forward hatch.
Sunita Williams, the NASA astronaut from the class of 1998, has flown twice to space: Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33. It will be her third visit to the International Space Station.
With a total of 50 hours and 40 minutes of spacewalk time under her belt, Sunita was the record holder for the longest duration by a female astronaut until it was surpassed by Peggy Whitson. The retired US Navy Captain has also completed a total of 322 days in space.
The goal of the Starliner is to enable the transportation of astronauts and other resources for future NASA missions to low Earth orbit and elsewhere. This will be the flight to certify the Starliner for regular transportation to the space station.
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