NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore took the public on a live tour of the Boeing Starliner on Saturday, two days after the spacecraft docked with the International Space Station.
Williams and Wilmore docked with the ISS on Thursday, just over 24 hours after becoming the first astronauts to launch on a Starliner/United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Veteran astronauts and Navy test pilots are conducting crew flight tests of Boeing’s spacecraft and certifying the spacecraft for future astronaut missions to the space station.
The NASA TV tour offered the first look inside the Starliner since pre-launch.
The spacecraft’s software system does not support live video, so once the spacecraft docks with the space station, astronauts can use the ISS’s cameras and microphones.
“Let’s go aboard the Starliner, where a little incident happened the other day,” Williams said.
The former U.S. Navy captain and astronaut became the first human to launch on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday and was likely referring to a thrilling rendezvous with the International Space Station on Thursday.
Williams and Wilmore took turns holding the camera, showing the view from the capsule’s cockpit and the Starliner’s controls.
NASA/AFP via Getty Images
Both astronauts wore “Fly Navy” T-shirts, and Williams brought a fun sock collection into orbit, wearing a pair of American flag socks.
Both astronauts have spoken positively about their Starliner journey so far.
They are expected to spend more than a week on the ISS before returning to Earth and landing in New Mexico.
“The handling of the spacecraft is amazingly good — much better than in the simulator — and it’s been a positive event from start to finish,” Wilmore said.
Astronauts said they conducted emergency training exercises over the weekend in case they needed to evacuate the ISS and use the Starliner as a lifeboat.
On this journey, with only a crew of two, the spacecraft was able to carry more cargo.
NASA/AFP via Getty Images
Willmore and Williams pointed out the bags packed with emergency supplies, oxygen masks and other items that were taking up a lot of legroom on the plane.
“It’s actually quite spacious for just Suni and I to stay in,” Wilmore said.
When it’s not dark, astronauts can enjoy views of space from the Starliner’s forward windows.
Craig Bailey/Florida Today/USA Today Network
Williams concluded the tour by commenting on Starliner’s future missions.
“It’s really cool to show off our new spacecraft, Starliner, and show that we can get people out here, and hopefully we can send more people out to the International Space Station this way, not just our friends on Dragon and our friends who came over on Soyuz,” Williams said. “Having humans orbit the Earth is a pretty epic event, and now we have multiple ways to get people out here.”
Starliner’s arrival marks the first time that three vehicles capable of carrying humans into space have docked with the ISS, including SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Russia’s Soyuz. The next astronauts to launch on Starliner will be on the first long-duration mission aboard the spacecraft, called Starliner 1.
