Starliner test mission full steam ahead, rocket on launch pad

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Starliner is one step closer to making history. On Saturday, it made the slow roll at 1 mph out of the launch complex, locking into place for Monday's launch.Boeing's spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlis V, standing 172 feet, made that roll at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.Launch managers polled "go" to proceed on Friday and this weekend launch teams and astronauts have been prepping for the crewed test mission's Monday night launch at 10:34."The two phases of the mission that are the most challenging at least in my mind are the energetic things. A launch with a new launch vehicle, with humans for the first time. Obviously, we've had good success with this Atlas V system in the past," said Jim McMichael with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.Once the rocket stack was rolled into place, the crew access arm was put into position. Now awaiting the two NASA test astronauts to take their positions on Monday; Commander Butch Willmore and Suni Williams.They'll dock at the International Space Station for about eight days and a great deal of that time will be spent testing out the new Starliner.And when the craft and crew return, it'll be different than how the SpaceX Crew Dragon returns. Starliner touches down in the desert and not splashing down at sea. "The Boeing system has airbags, because we are landing on land. They'll inflate underneath the bottom of the capsule to help take care of that sudden stop at the bottom," added McMichael.It'll be the first time ever that an Atlas V rocket will carry humans and the first mission of NASA's Commercial Crew program to launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.The much-delayed Starliner will join SpaceX's Crew Dragon on six-month rotations up to the ISS. And once Starliner is certified by NASA, it'll provide critical redundancy for lift up to the ISS from American soil.