How to watch NASA and Boeing’s first Starliner launch today

Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance are preparing to launch the first crewed Starliner flight test at 12:25PM ET today. You’ve got several options to watch live coverage of the launch, including YouTube (either on NASA’s or Boeing’s channel), on X (NASA, Boeing), and on NASA Plus, which has apps on various streaming devices.

The flight is meant to take two US astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — up to the International Space Station (ISS), where they plan to dock at 1:50PM ET tomorrow, June 2nd (NASA will live stream this, as well). Wilmore and Williams will stay on the station for a week to carry out testing of Starliner and its subsystems prior to NASA’s final certification of the craft for rotational missions to ISS.

Boeing’s Starliner scrubbed its May 6th launch after the United Launch Alliance discovered an issue with a pressure regulation valve in its Atlas V rocket. Starliner also has a helium leak, which NASA has decided not to repair because it doesn’t believe it endangers the mission, and fixing it would involve another lengthy delay. Prior to that, Boeing’s Starliner faced repeated delays and setbacks, including a failed 2019 mission, but finally successfully docked its capsule, unmanned, with the ISS in 2022.

Starliner is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which sees the agency works with private companies to develop novel spacecraft. SpaceX is also part of this program and has launched NASA astronauts since 2020.