Boeing's Starliner spaceship docks with International Space Station in key test mission

Completing a major objective in a high-stakes do-over test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner crew capsule docked for the first time with the International Space Station (ISS) at 8:28 pm Eastern time.

A live feed showed that a partially reusable spacecraft, designed to transport to a low-Earth orbit destination, had blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The high-stakes test mission comes as the United States aerospace giant seeks to restore its reputation following past failures.

The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner has been furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA).

The spacecraft, which is currently home to a seven-member crew, had missed the scheduled time by more than an hour due to technical issues.

Despite the failure of two onboard thrusters and a problem that required ground control to retract its docking system and then re-deploy it, the vessel flew 271 miles (436 km) over the south Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia at 0028 GMT Saturday.

According to Boeing mission commentator Steve Siceloff, "This is all part of the learning process for operating Starliner in orbit."

Meanwhile, the US Space agency NASA said in a blog post, "That system operated normally during all of the propulsion system demonstrations, and with redundancies in place, does not pose a risk to the rest of the flight test."

Boeing, which plans a redesign after this week's flight, ultimately resolved the issue with a temporary workaround and said the success is pivotal for the Chicago-based company scrambling to climb out of successive crises in its jetliner business and its space defense unit.

Referring to Starliner's sole passenger mannequin named Rosie the Rocketeer, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke said at a press conference this week, "We are a little jealous of Rosie."

Starliner could fly its first team of astronauts to the space station as early as the fall if all goes well with the current mission which is delivering more than 800 pounds of cargo to the ISS.

(With inputs from agencies)

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