Boeing Launches NASA Astronauts for First Time After Years of Delays

Boeing's Starliner capsule, atop an Atlas V rocket, lifts off from launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 5, 2024. Chris O'Meara/AP Photo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Boeing launched astronauts for the first time Wednesday, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA.

A pair of NASA test pilots blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the International Space Station, the first to fly the new spacecraft.