Boeing Starliner carrying NASA astronauts docks with International Space Station

ISTANBUL

The Boeing Starliner that launched for the first time Wednesday carrying two NASA astronauts successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday.

The Starliner capsule docked with the space station at 1.34 p.m. EDT, according to a post by NASA on X.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are greeted by the ISS crew after Starliner's first crewed journey from Earth, it said, adding the two astronauts "will soon make their way into the orbital laboratory, where they'll spend about a week."

The Starliner, which was considered as a competitor to Elon Musk's SpaceX Dragon spacecraft a decade ago, witnessed years of setbacks and delays due to technical issues.

The launch on Wednesday was the first for the Starliner carrying crew, while NASA considers the spacecraft for future operations such as delivering astronauts and cargo to and from the ISS.

SpaceX's Starship rocket, meanwhile, successfully completed its test flight earlier Thursday.

The rocket, which is the most powerful ever built, has 33 Raptor engines at its base that can produce 16.7 million pounds (8,350 tons) of thrust.