Meet the NASA astronauts who will be the first to launch on a Boeing spacecraft

Two NASA astronauts are set to become the first astronauts in history to launch into space aboard a Boeing spaceship.

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are scheduled to pilot the company's Starliner capsule on its first crewed test flight to the International Space Station on May 6.

On Thursday, they arrived at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they will both remain until launch.

“This is where the rubber meets the road, where we're leaving this planet, and that's pretty cool,” Williams said in a post-arrival press conference.

The long-awaited mission will be crucial in proving that Boeing's spacecraft can safely transport crew to and from low Earth orbit. If successful, it would be a major step forward for the company, which eventually plans to join SpaceX's ranks in conducting routine flights to and from the space station for NASA.

The test flight will be closely monitored, because software glitches and issues with the Starliner's fuel valves have already pushed the mission years behind schedule. Boeing's separate aviation arm also came under intense scrutiny after a panel on one of its 737 Max 9 planes exploded mid-flight earlier this year, raising questions about the company's quality control practices.

Willmore said the delays leading up to this launch were necessary to ensure the Starliner capsule was ready to take people into space.

“We wouldn't be here if we weren't prepared,” he said. “We're ready. The spacecraft is ready, the teams are ready.”

Officials from NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance, which is making the Atlas V rocket that will launch the Starliner capsule, met Thursday and signed off on a May 6 liftoff attempt.

Then on Friday, the astronauts completed a full rehearsal for launch day. They will now spend the next week working on last-minute preparations and training exercises, According to NASA.

If the crew succeeds in reaching the International Space Station, the astronauts will spend about a week there before returning to Earth.

Both Wilmore and Williams are veteran astronauts and former test pilots in the US Navy. NASA selected the pair in 2022 for Boeing's first crewed test flight.

Wilmore, the mission commander, has completed two previous spaceflights, logging 178 days in space. A Tennessee native, he piloted the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the space station in 2009 and blasted into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2014 as a member of the space station's Expedition 41 crew.

Williams, the mission commander, had previously completed two missions aboard the International Space Station, totaling 322 days in space.

She grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, and first flew to the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and stayed there for about six months. In 2012, Williams returned to space, this time aboard a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft. Her second stay on the space station lasted about four months.