Boeing's Starliner spacecraft lifted off to the International Space Station (ISS) for its first crewed test flight in April, the US space agency NASA said.
The spacecraft launched on Wednesday from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida with NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, using an Atlas V rocket.
The test flight had been postponed several times due to various technical problems with the spacecraft and rocket.
The Starliner - a partially reusable spacecraft consisting of a capsule for the crew and a service module and capable of carrying up to four crew members - is expected at the ISS on Thursday, where Wilmore and Williams are to stay for around a week.
Williams, 58, and Wilmore, 61, have each been in space twice before.
The Crew Dragon space capsule currently docked at the ISS was moved to another docking station especially for the arrival of the Starliner.
In May 2022, the Starliner completed its first successful unmanned flight to the ISS and spent four days there - an important test for the spacecraft.
In the future, it will transport astronauts to the ISS as an alternative to SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule.
However, due to a number of problems, the project is far behind schedule, while the Crew Dragon has been bringing astronauts to the ISS regularly for several years.
