Boeing, NASA is targeting July 30th as the second test flight of the Starliner capsule.

Boeing's Starliner Astronaut Taxi will be launched on its second test flight in July, should everything go as planned.

The company now plans to launch Starliner as early as July 30, just ahead of the target announced in early August. The next take-off will kick off the Orbital-2 Flight Test (OFT-2), an undisturbed mission to the International Space Station.

Boeing last attempted such a test flight in December 2019, but the spacecraft did not reach the station as planned because of a series of technical issues. Further delays occurred as Boeing attempted to meet NASA requirements arising from a post-flight examination, and technical and weather problems also contributed to the situation. Boeing also had to wait while NASA tried to find a niche available in the busy launch schedule for spacecraft bound for the ISS, with and without crew.

"Boeing recently completed the end-to-end testing of Starliner's flight software by piloting a five-day OFT-2 simulated mission with operational teams and the closest hardware," the company said.

“Boeing will continue to support NASA's post-test reviews and has submitted all OFT-2 verification and validation documents,” Boeing added. "All actions recommended by the joint Boeing/NASA Independent Review Team following Starliner's first test flight are complete and pending closure."

Boeing and SpaceX have trade agreements with NASA. SpaceX has now launched two operational crewed missions to the ISS for the agency with its Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, but astronauts have yet to climb aboard Starliner. The success of Flight OFT-2 will help pave the way for manned missions with the Boeing capsule, which Ars Technica says will likely start in 2022.

NASA chose to take the business route to fill the shoes of its space shuttle fleet, which retired in 2011 after 30 years of orbital operations. Development of commercial crew stretches back through several presidential administrations; after several rounds of earlier competitive evaluations, SpaceX and Boeing were ultimately selected in 2014 to split a $6.8 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability award.

Prior to the commissioning of Crew Dragon, the Russian spaceship Soyuz was the only orbital vehicle carrying crew members available after the shuttles retreated. NASA was forced to purchase Soyuz seats in 2021 to maintain its personnel needs on the ISS.

Original Publication on Space.com.