The Starliner test mission is well underway, and the rocket is on the launch pad

Starliner is one step away from making history. On Saturday, it slowly moved at a speed of one mile per hour out of the launch complex, settling into place in preparation for launch on Monday.

Boeing’s 172-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlis V spacecraft made this roll at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Launch managers polled “Go” going forward on Friday, and launch teams and astronauts were this weekend preparing to launch the crewed test mission Monday night at 10:34.

“The two most challenging mission phases, at least in my mind, are the active stuff. Launching with a new launch vehicle with humans for the first time. Obviously, we’ve had good success with this Atlas V system in the past,” said Jim McMichael of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Once the missile stack was in place, the crew access lever was placed in place. NASA’s two experimental astronauts are now waiting to take their positions on Monday; Commander Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams.

It will dock at the International Space Station for approximately eight days and much of that time will be spent testing the new Starliner vehicle.

When the vehicle and crew return, it will be different from the return of the SpaceX Crew Dragon. The Starliner lands in the desert and does not fall into the sea.

“Boeing’s system has airbags, because we’re landing on the ground. They’ll inflate underneath the bottom of the capsule to help deal with that sudden stop at the bottom,” McMichael added.

This will be the first time ever that an Atlas V rocket has carried humans and the first mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Station.

The much-delayed Starliner vehicle will join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon on six-month cycles to the International Space Station. Once the Starliner vehicle is certified by NASA, it will provide a critical replication of the lift to the International Space Station from American soil.