Boeing's new crew capsule, Starliner, docked with the International Space Station after a nail-biting launch on Thursday, May 19. An uncrewed test fight called Orbital Test Flight 2 or OFT-2 is being performed by the capsule, which is intended to carry astronauts from Earth to the International Space Station.
The Starliner was launched from the Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. On Friday, May 20. The docking did not go smoothly after it arrived. The engineering team had to redeploy Starliner's docking hardware because of technical issues with the docking process.
The craft had issues with two of its thrusters, which cut off too early. The agency stressed that this was not a critical fault, and that the system operated normally during all of the demonstrations.
The test flight this week is being watched closely as a previous attempt at the OFT-2 test in December went badly, with the craft failing to reach the ISS and subsequent testing bringing to light serious issues. There were more issues discovered that led to the cancellation of the planned flight last year. The craft made it safely to the International Space Station despite some minor issues, which bode well for its future use.
The landing system will be tested before Starliner leaves the space station on May 25. The tanks will be sent back to the station on a future flight.
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