Boeing's Starliner crew capsule expected to have first test spaceflight on 20 December

 Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule finally has a launch date for its first test flight to the International Space Station.

After an intensive review Thursday, NASA and Boeing managers agreed to a 20 December liftoff.

“Hopefully, we should all be getting an early Christmas present this year,” said Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s commercial spaceflight development.

Just a few technical issues remain to be completed, he noted.

[caption id=“attachment_7777331” align=“alignnone” width=“1000”] The Starliner now has a launch date. Image credit: AP[/caption]

No one will be aboard, just a mannequin named Rosie. Three astronauts will strap in for the second test flight of a Starliner sometime next year.

SpaceX also plans to launch astronauts for NASA next year. The company conducted a test flight without a crew back in March.

NASA turned to the two private companies in 2014 to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.

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Whether Boeing or SpaceX, it will be the first time U.S. astronauts rocket to orbit from home soil in nearly nine years. The longer-than-anticipated hiatus stretches back to NASA’s last space shuttle flight in July 2011. NASA astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets in the interim.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket will provide the Starliner’s lift from Cape Canaveral, a little before sunrise. The capsule will parachute into New Mexico on 28 December to close out the flight.