Two astronauts will fly into space TONIGHT on a Boeing rocket – after a series of plane safety failures

NASA will launch a Boeing-made spacecraft to the International Space Station on Monday evening, with two astronauts on board for the first time.

The astronauts will spend just over a week testing the Starliner spacecraft, which is built to carry up to seven passengers for missions conducted in low Earth orbit – an altitude of 620 miles or less above the Earth’s surface.

This comes as Boeing has faced investigations into numerous aircraft malfunctions and complaints from whistleblowers who allege the company cut corners in the construction of its 747 Max planes.

The launch will depart from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:34 PM ET and live coverage of the launch will take place on NASA’s YouTube page and website.

Boeing’s Starliner will lift off to the ISS attached to the Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida (photo)

The Starliner was scheduled to launch last summer with two astronauts on board, but was postponed due to problems with the parachute and wiring systems. Pictured: Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore (right)

NASA plans to use the Starliner to eventually transport four astronauts, cargo and scientific instruments to and from the International Space Station (ISS) if Monday’s mission is a success.

The astronauts boarding the Starliner are Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, both former Navy test pilots who have each been to space twice.

“The first crewed flight of a new spacecraft is an absolutely critical milestone,” NASA Associate Administrator James Free told reporters during a recent flight readiness assessment: Florida today reported.

“The lives of our crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are at stake. We don’t take that lightly at all,” he added.

Boeing’s previous attempt at a crewed flight in July last year was pushed back to this year as they faced issues surrounding the parachute system used to return the capsule to Earth after the mission.

NASA said the “soft links” in the parachutes were weaker than they should be and did not meet safety requirements.

The agency also removed a tape on the wiring harness called P-213, which is flammable in certain environments.

Laura Forczyk, the executive director of the space consultancy Astralytical, said NPR that the two-year delay between the craft’s test launch and carrying astronauts “means that NASA and Boeing are taking this very seriously, but it also makes me nervous because it has been two years since this vehicle has been operational.”

In 2019, the Starliner experienced another failure during an unmanned launch to reach the ISS, but dozens of software and technical issues prevented the capsule from returning to Earth once it entered orbit.

“We have very robust processes, and the certificate of readiness that we use to review everything… the design certification process, they’re all very robust,” Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Starliner program, said at a NASA news conference in March.

Boeing shares plummeted 10 percent in just one week after the door was blown off a Boeing 737 Max 9 Alaska Airlines flight

A Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines veered off the tarmac into the grass as it left the runway at George Bush Airport in Houston (pictured)

A rear door plug blew off shortly after takeoff on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane earlier this year (photo)

“And the proof of that is the fact that the problems we’ve experienced in the past were discovered as part of that process,” he added.

But even as Boeing moves toward the launch of the Starliner, scandals surrounding the disastrous consequences of mismanaged 737 Max planes persist.

The Federal Aviation Administration opened an audit of Boeing’s production after a plug in the rear door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane blew off earlier this year.

Investigation revealed that the door was missing four bolt plugs that were supposed to hold the door in place. Three whistleblowers have come forward to detail deficiencies in the company’s quality control during production.

A Boeing 737 MAX 8 suffered an equipment collapse as it landed in Houston, Texas, in March, causing the plane to veer off the runway. Shortly after takeoff from San Francisco, a wheel fell off a 777-200 aircraft and the engine of a 737 caught fire midway through a flight to Fort Myers, Florida.

In the wake of the accidents, Boeing reported that it lost $355 million in revenue in the first quarter of this year and that its shares fell 10 percent in one week after the Alaska Airlines incident.