Starliner Launch Updates: Astronaut Sunita Williams lifts off to space

The live blog is ending. We will bring out all the developments from the mission on India Today Science.

Orbit insertion has been completed successfully. The Starliner spacecraft piloted by astronaut Sunita Williams and commanded by astronaut Butch Willmore is in orbit it needs to meet with the Space Station. 

Starliner has separated from the Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft is now in orbit. The astronauts have over 26 hours of journey in front of it to dock with the International Space Station. 

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has become the first woman to fly a spacecraft on a test mission to space. She is piloting the Starliner spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.

The RL10 engines are performing well as the Atlas V flies off the coast of the Carolinas. This 7-minute burn by Centaur places Starliner at the desired injection point by delivering more than one-third of the overall launch velocity.

Burnout and separation of the solid rocket boosters from the first stage is confirmed. Atlas V has consumed nearly 500,000 pounds of fuel and now weighs less than half of what it did at liftoff.

Nasa launches Starliner spacecraft with astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore to space. This is Starliner's maiden human spaceflight. 

Astronaut Butch Willmore's message ahead of launch: 'Let's put some fire in this rocket, push it to heaven.'

Crew access arm removed from above Atlas V rocket. Starliner is secured and on internal power. All looks good for launch. 

Astronauts secured.

Hatch closed. 

Weather clear.

Communications Green.

Launch is GO.

Lift-off shortly. 

Barry E. Wilmore (Captain, U.S. Navy, Ret.) is a veteran of two spaceflights and has accumulated 178 days in space. He is currently training to be the commander of the Crew Flight Test mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft – the first crewed flight for that vehicle – and his third mission aboard the International Space Station. Wilmore served as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 41 until November when he assumed command of the station upon arrival of the Expedition 42 crew. He returned to Earth in March 2015. During this mission, he logged 167 days in space and performed four spacewalks. In 2009, Wilmore served as a pilot aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis for STS-129. Wilmore is from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee and earned degrees from Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee. He retired as a captain in the U.S. Navy.

He is the commander of Crew Flight Test of Starliner. 

The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing's new Starliner space capsule was called off in May over a technical issue. The postponement, attributed to an issue with a valve in the rocket's second stage, was announced during a live NASA webcast.

The Boeing Starliner was set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida's Cape Canaveral at 8.04 am India time.

"NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance scrubbed the launch opportunity on Monday, May 6 for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station due to a faulty oxygen relief valve observation on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Centaur second stage," the space agency said in a statement.

Latest forecast indicates the weather is 90% favourable for the launch. 

Nasa astronauts have been given the go-ahead for closing the Starliner's hatch. The hatch will only be opened two weeks from now, after completion of the mission. Butch Willmore confirmed, "we are ready."

The teams are preparing to seal and close the hatch. Both astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore are seated securely in the Starliner spacecraft awaiting lift-off. 

Sunita Williams, a veteran astronaut and former naval test pilot, is set to go on her third flight to space.

Williams, who has already spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space across two missions, was scheduled to launch aboard Boeing Starliner's test flight as the company aims to get certified as fit for flight by Nasa. However, the flight was scrubbed on Tuesday.

Williams is joined by Nasa's Barry Wilmore on the flight, as they fly the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to dock in zero gravity, and then return to splashdown on Earth.

The Starliner spacecraft, named Calypso, can fly autonomously or be steered manually and is expected to rendezvous and dock with the space station on Wednesday.

Astronaut Sunita Williams has entered the Starliner spacecraft that she will pilot to space. 

Starliner Launch LIVE: Starliner will autonomously dock to the station on Thursday, June 6, and remain at the orbiting laboratory for about a week. Although Starliner is designed to dock autonomously, the astronauts aboard the spacecraft will demonstrate manual control processes and capabilities before the spacecraft makes its automated final approach. 

Starliner Launch LIVE: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are headed out to space. 

Starliner Launch LIVE: Atlas V is fully fueled and configured for today's Boeing Starliner launch. The rocket now awaits Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Starliner Launch LIVE: Astronaut Sunita Williams is flying on the mission as pilot alongside Butch Willmore, who is the mission commander. 

For Williams, who was born to an Indian-American father and Slovenian-American mother, the flight represents another milestone in her trailblazing career.

She previously set a world record for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time (50 hours, 40 minutes) during her two expeditions aboard the ISS in 2006-2007 and 2012.

Starliner Launch LIVE: The mission aims to certify Boeing's Starliner as the second private spacecraft, after SpaceX's Crew Dragon, capable of transporting astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory. 

The flight has already faced multiple delays due to technical issues, including a helium leak in Starliner's service module that scrubbed an earlier May 6 launch attempt just minutes before liftoff. On June 1, the launch was scribbed again, just four minutes before scheduled lift-off.

Nasa and Boeing teams have been working to assess the spacecraft's performance and redundancy systems following the helium leak. A successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test was conducted in May 2022, but this will be Starliner's first crewed mission to dock with the ISS.

The two astronauts have begun their journey to the Starliner launch pad as they walk out of the dressing room and greet their families one last time before going up to the rocket that will carry them to space. 

Starliner Launch LIVE: Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore have suited up for launch. 

Starliner Launch LIVE: Welcome to India Today Science LIVE Blog as we bring to you latest updates from Nasa's attempt to launch Starliner on mission to International Space Station.