Meet the NASA astronauts who will be first to launch on Boeing's spaceship

Two NASA astronauts are set to become the first to launch aboard Boeing's Starliner space capsule. They will fly to the space station in a high-stakes test flight.

Two NASA astronauts are set to become the first in history to launch into space aboard a Boeing spaceship.

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are slated to pilot the company’s Starliner capsule on its first crewed test flight to the International Space Station on May 6.

They arrived Thursday at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where both will remain until the launch.

“This is where the rubber meets the road, where we are going to leave this planet, and that is pretty darn cool,” Williams said in a post-arrival news briefing.

The long-delayed mission will be crucial in demonstrating that Boeing’s spacecraft can safely ferry a crew to and from low-Earth orbit. If successful, it will be a key step forward for the company, which eventually plans to join the ranks of SpaceX in conducting routine flights to and from the space station for NASA.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-astronauts-first-boeing-starliner-crew-rcna149231

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