On Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. Launching the Crew Dragon with two unoccupied seats is part of the agency’s decision to return the Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft uncrewed demonstrating the flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
In a crucial milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched into the Florida Space Coast skies at 10:52 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2024. The agency now has a second vehicle to send astronauts from American soil to and from the International Space Station. With two agency astronauts aboard, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The second uncrewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lifted off to prove the system could safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It is another step toward NASA having two different spacecraft to send astronauts from American soil to the orbiting laboratory.