Two NASA astronauts filmed a tour of Boeing’s Starliner, showing the public around the spacecraft that took them to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday (June 6).
Starliner docked with the ISS at 1:34 PM EDT (1734 GMT) on Friday, 26 hours after the capsule launched on its first-ever crewed flight. The crew includes Commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams, the first two of dozens of astronauts expected to fly to the ISS aboard the Boeing spacecraft.
Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the ISS at least until June 18, an extension of about five days longer than originally expected. The extra time will allow engineers to perform more checks on Starliner and create space for an ISS spacewalk on June 13.
Related: Boeing’s first Starliner astronaut mission has been extended through June 18
Meanwhile, Wilmore and Williams treated us to a tour of the interior of Starliner.
Williams begins the tour of the ISS with Wilmore behind the camera, pointing to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed Kibo, on the port side of the space station. She then designates the European Columbus module on the starboard side of the ISS before passing the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA), which connects spacecraft such as Starliner to the ISS, to the docking adapter and finally to Starliner.
The first shot aboard the Boeing craft shows Williams upside down, indicating the two-man crew’s ventilation system, which consists of several orange tubes. We then see the cramped-looking crew living quarters, which Wilmore assures us is actually quite spacious. Let’s hope so, because Starliner will next carry four passengers to the ISS instead of two.
The tour then reveals Starliner’s hatch, as Wilmore enters the vessel to sit in his commander’s seat while Williams takes her pilot’s seat.
This provides the bird’s eye view the crew had during their historic journey to the ISS. Williams also shows the controls Wilmore used to manually fly Starliner during a series of pre-docking tests.
“Everything was fantastic. The spacecraft handled things remarkably well, much better than the simulator, and it was just a positive event,” Wilmore says in the video.
The NASA astronaut then explains what safety equipment would be used if the crew had to use the Starliner as a rescue boat in the event of an emergency, such as debris approaching the ISS.
Wilmore says he and Williams have already conducted a “safe haven” practice event to test the Starliner shelter procedure. Safety equipment also includes orange bags containing kits that would be used in the event of a toxic chemical leak and respirators that would be worn if that situation were to occur.
Before leaving the Starliner craft, Wilmore pays tribute to his fellow American service members and William’s colleagues.
“In case you were wondering, yes, Suni and I are both Navy aviators, so we put on our Navy paraphernalia to show off and be proud of our service,” Wilmore says in the video. “So thank you to all of you who are now serving and protecting freedom around the world.”
Back on the ISS, the tour ends with a sight that will bring life on the space station back to Earth. Wilmore explains that because it was Saturday, the ISS crew was cleaning the vacuum cleaner! He then holds the microphone back to Williams, who signs off on the tour.
“I’m just super happy to be here on the ISS, together with our international partners,” she says. “It’s really great to show off our new spacecraft, Starliner. Getting people into orbit is a pretty spectacular event, and now we have a number of ways to get people here. Butch and I are so honored to be part of this crew.”