NASA has set a tentative date of No Earlier Than (NET) Monday, April 22, 2024 for what is expected to be the final test flight of the Starliner capsule. Should this Crew Flight Test (CFT) go smoothly then the Starliner-1 mission with Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk onboard would launch NET early 2025.
For Kutryk this would be his first flight to space and it will be a long duration stay, approximately six months, on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Canadian Space Agency said in its notice about the upcoming CFT that “Kutryk will also be Capcom for the CFT flight, supporting from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.”
Onboard the CFT flight are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who will rendezvous and dock with the ISS and stay upwards of two weeks. The CFT Starliner will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
NASA said “the mission will test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system, including launch, docking, and return to Earth in the desert of the western United States.”