Cape Canaveral, Florida: Boeing's new Starliner capsule flew its first crew of astronauts to space on Wednesday from Florida in a much-delayed test mission to the International Space Station, a milestone in the aerospace giant's ambitions to step up its competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The CST-100 Starliner, with astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams aboard, lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, strapped to an Atlas V rocket furnished and flown by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA).
The gumdrop-shaped capsule and its crew was headed for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) following years of technical problems, delays and a successful 2022 test mission to the orbital laboratory without astronauts aboard. On Wednesday, the Atlas V's engines thundered to life in flaming clouds of exhaust and coolant-water vapor as the spacecraft roared off its launch pad into sunny skies from Florida's Atlantic Coast.

The rocket's upper stage separated from its lower section about four minutes into flight, followed by Starliner's separation from the second stage. Now on its own, the spacecraft fired onboard thrusters to start pushing itself into orbit, mission managers said, a process that starts its 24-hour catch-up journey with the ISS, which orbits some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
Starliner will need to execute precise maneuvers to dock with the ISS as planned on Thursday, demonstrate it can stay docked for about eight days, then safely return the two astronauts to Earth. Boeing intends for Starliner to compete with SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which since 2020 has been NASA's only vehicle for sending ISS crew members to orbit from U.S. Soil.

Mark Nappi, Boeing's Starliner program chief, told a news conference that tens of thousands of things have to go right during Starliner's launch, and that on Wednesday "it all lined up." "We had just a perfect countdown and launch. ... We're on orbit with Butch and Suni, it's been a longtime coming. And we're really, really proud," Nappi said.

The inaugural crew for the seven-seat Starliner includes two veteran NASA astronauts in Wilmore, 61, a retired U.S. Navy captain and fighter pilot, and Williams, 58, a former Navy helicopter test pilot with experience flying more than 30 different aircraft.They have spent a combined 500 days in space over the course of two ISS missions each. Wilmore is the designated commander for the flight, with Williams in the pilot seat.