Boeing Starliner carrying Sunita Williams creates history

NEW YORK: The first launch of Boeing's 'Starliner' spacecraft carrying humans to the International Space Station (ISS) turned successful on Wednesday. Indian-origin Sunita Williams and American Traveler Butch Wilmore were in the Starliner capsule. This is Sunita's third space mission.

The launch took place from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and was in collaboration with NASA. The spacecraft will reach the space station in 25 hours. After a week's stay, both will return to Earth in a spacecraft.

Boeing is the second private company to carry tourists to the ISS. The first company was Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The launch scheduled for Saturday was postponed due to a technical fault in the Atlas V rocket. Sunita, 58, was born and raised in the US. Her father is of Indian origin and her mother is Slovenian. Sunita held the record of being the second Indian-origin person to reach space. Both of them will conduct tests to evaluate how the spacecraft can function during emergencies on the ISS.

The big project was shelved for many years after facing repeated glitches in software programs.