Boeing sets the date for the first manned flight to the International Space Station in May

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing It is supposed to be launched for the first time on May 1 on a manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) with the Starliner spacecraft, which will be launched on a two-week test mission after the delay.

“We are in good shape,” Mark Nappi, Vice President of the Commercial Crew Program at Boeing, said in a video conference, today, after announcing the new date for the manned flight, noting that the company is successfully completing all the necessary tests for the manned flight. Starliner launch aboard a United Launch Alliance rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, United States.

The launch will take place after it was subjected to successive postponements, the last of which was last year due to technical problems, and if Boeing succeeds in this test mission, which will take two astronauts on board. North American Space Agency (NASA)The company will be able to send the first commercial Starliner flight to the International Space Station by December after obtaining the necessary certificates.

In this context, Boeing will become NASA's second supplier for manned and cargo flights to the International Space Station, after that. SpaceX is owned by businessman Elon Musk.

The Starliner spacecraft is reusable and has the capacity to carry seven people, but the crewed missions NASA has ordered from Boeing expect four or five astronauts.