The Boeing Starliner has a new launch date: May 1. If you were wondering – yes it has been delayed again. But now there's hope that it might finally go ahead.
The two increasingly brave astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have named their spacecraft Calypso after Jacques Cousteau’s research ship. Both of them have a love of ocean, and fittingly, Calypso is the daughter of Atlas in Greek mythology, and Starliner will be launching on an Atlas rocket. That's poetic.
Recently they've been packing Calypso-themed gear, including special socks, gold rings, and dog tags for Suni’s Labradors, Cutter and Gunner. Thanks to Boeing's recent woes, expectations have been tempered – we are being told not to expect perfection. And indeed, it seems that those who inhabit social media have no such expectations. The memes are already circulating. Starliner Max. Starliner, now with MCAS. (For those that are unaware, MCAS was the system responsible for the 737 MAX accidents.) Harsh.
But I, for one, am hoping the Starliner mission is a success.
