Starliner rolls to launch pad ahead of Saturday crew liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida

An Atlas V rocket slowly rolled out of the United Launch Alliance Vertical Integration Facility on Thursday morning, headed toward Launch Complex 41, illuminated by the bright Florida sun.

Atop the Atlas V, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft sat ready to launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams on Saturday in the first crewed test flight of this new spacecraft. Launch is currently scheduled for 12:25 p.m. Saturday. The mission has been delayed nearly a month due first to an oxygen leak on the rocket and then a helium leak on part of the spacecraft.

Within half an hour, the rocket was approaching its destination. The Atlas V paused for few moments just as it arrived near the launch pad giving ULA crews time to make final preparations.

Finally, the Atlas V inched carefully into place on the launch pad. In just days, it would lift Boeing's Starliner up to Earth orbit to catch up with the International Space Station, which travels at 17,500 mph around the planet.

Starliner Crew Flight Test

Swooping down in T-38 jets, the astronauts arrived back on the Space Coast Tuesday evening to prepare for the upcoming flight. A long time in the making, this crewed test flight will certify Boeing's Starliner to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS in rotation with SpaceX's Dragon.

Originally set to launch back on May 6, the attempt was scrubbed due to an issue with an oxygen valve on the Atlas V rocket. Upon repairing the oxygen valve on the rocket, Boeing crews discovered a helium leak in a thruster located within the service module ? which is the disposable lower part of the spacecraft that contains thrusters. While investigating that leak, an issue with the redundancy of thrusters at the time of reentry sparked another launch hold. Crews investigated and created a work around to ensure the safe return of astronauts even in the most extreme scenarios.

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Starliner Launch

As the crew access arm met the spacecraft once again on Thursday, Starliner was again poised to ferry Williams and Wilmore to the International Space Station.

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Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Starliner again on launchpad awaiting maiden crewed flight from Cape