Sunita Williams to pilot Boeing Starliner's history-making maiden flight

The much-awaited Boeing Starliner is set to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 7 after years of delays and technical issues which are said to be resolved.

Aboard the spacecraft’s first mission, it will be piloted by an astronaut Sunita Williams who will be in space for the third time orbiting the Earth, Business Insider reported.

The 59-year-old will lead the team to the International Space Station (ISS) and said that she is very excited about the journey.

Sunita Williams said: "When I reach the ISS, it will be like going back home."

She will be accompanied by a veteran 61-year-old astronaut Butch Wilmore, who also was part of two earlier space missions. They will be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket’s 26-hour critical journey.

Williams and Wilmore will be conducting several tests to make sure the Boeing Starliner is up to the mark as per Nasa’s standards for future missions.

The astronauts will spend eight days after docking and working on the ISS. On their return to Earth on May 15, its landing would be in the western US.

Williams is set to be written as the first female astronaut to pilot a maiden crewed mission on a newly built spacecraft.

Her earlier records include the longest cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut.