Boeing's Starliner is a 'big piece of America's overall strategy for access to low Earth orbit,' astronaut says

A grey-and-blue cone-shaped spacecraft in space above the Earth.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — Starliner will send its first astronaut crew to space as early as Monday (May 6), and Mission Control plans one last big test to get ready for the event.

NASA and Boeing Starliner officials worked together at the government agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston on an hours-long prelaunch test on Sunday (May 5). A NASA team in Mission Control took control of Starliner, just like during the real event, and simulated a countdown all the way to liftoff.