Astronauts face delays and missing luggage as they board Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft

The summer space season has already gotten off to a difficult start.

After years of delays, NASA is preparing to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a new spacecraft built by Boeing.

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will lift off Saturday at 12:25 p.m. ET aboard the Boeing Starliner en route to the International Space Station. The launch will take place about a month after the Starliner was originally scheduled to fly to the station, and that launch was already years behind schedule.

But in a twist familiar to many air travelers here on Earth, the astronauts’ luggage is left behind. The lost luggage is not Boeing’s fault. The space station’s urine recycling system broke down earlier this week, and NASA had to make room to send a new pump.

“We ended up taking two crew suitcases, which have clothes on them,” Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program, said during a press conference on Friday.

Weigel said there are spare clothes and hygiene items on board the space station, and the crew can use these items during their stay.

Here’s what else you need to know about today’s launch.

This will be the first flight of the Starliner

In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to build Starliner as a vehicle to transport astronauts on routine missions to the International Space Station.

The Starliner program has since fallen far behind schedule and over budget. Boeing estimates that the program has cost the company more than $1 billion in losses.

At the same time NASA awarded the Boeing contract, it gave SpaceX $2.6 billion to develop its Dragon capsule. That spacecraft conducted its crewed test flight in 2020 and now regularly transports astronauts to the station.

Starliner is plagued by technical problems

The Starliner failed to reach the ISS during its first mission in 2019. The cause was an incorrectly set clock on board, which caused a computer to fire the capsule’s engines too early. The spacecraft managed to reach the ISS on its second test flight in 2022, despite some thrusters not working as planned.

Boeing postponed the Starliner’s first crewed flight last year after company officials realized that duct tape used on hundreds of feet of wiring was potentially flammable, and that the capsule’s three parachutes were connected by lines that appeared weaker than expected.

The most recent launch attempt on May 6 was aborted due to a stuck valve on the rocket that launched Starliner. That valve was replaced, but engineers also discovered a small helium leak in one of Starliner’s thrusters.

The leak is likely due to a faulty seal, although engineers are not entirely sure. Still, after weeks of extensive analysis, they believe that Starliner can fly safely even with the leak.

Nevertheless, today’s launch will be an important milestone

Despite all the problems, today’s launch will likely still be a major milestone for both NASA and Boeing.

A successful test will pave the way for more Starliner flights, giving NASA two independent private spacecraft that can transport astronauts to the space station.

Assuming all goes smoothly, Starliner will dock with the space station and stay there for just over a week while Williams and Wilmore conduct numerous tests. It will then re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and land at one of several locations in the western United States.

NPR’s Joe Hernandez contributed to this report.