The Starliner capsule is undergoing final preparations ahead of a launch next week, which is hoped to demonstrate its ability to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory ahead of crewed flights planned for later in the year.

The Boeing Starliner capsule is a part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is a venture through which the agency has partnered with commercial companies to accelerate the development of human-rated spacecraft. The idea is to end a US reliance on Russian-built Soyuz capsules to carry NASA astronauts to and from the ISS. Competitor SpaceX is well advanced in its efforts, successfully using its Crew Dragon spacecraft to transport NASA astronauts in the program's first commercial mission, which concluded in May.