WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NM – The successful live test of the Starliner spacecraft on NASA TV this morning proved how the Boeing spacecraft could eject from an Atlas rocket in case of an emergency.
The capsule will eventually launch astronauts back into space on American rockets for travel to the International Space station.
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The launch abort system flight took place in New Mexico where two parachutes provided a soft landing after it blasted off on a roughly 90 second test flight.
NASA is working with Boeing to get astronauts back into space without relying on Russian space program.
The public-private partnership will provide less costly and reliable transportation to and from the International Space Station.
The test will show how the Starliner spacecraft can escape from its Atlas V launch vehicle in an emergency and safely return the crew to Earth.
The 90-minute demonstration fired four abort engines lifting the spacecraft off the launch pad.to nearly a mile high before the parachute system deploys.
Now that the test is a success, plans for the first unmanned orbital flight test of Starliner could take place December 17 aboard an Atlas V rocket.