According to Reuters, Boeing is set to send its newest spacecraft into Earth orbit next week for the first time ever with astronauts on board, in a bid to become NASA's second private partner after SpaceX. The seven-person capsule will carry two NASA astronauts.

"This will be a crucial test for the ship before it is allowed to fly regularly in the NASA program", Reuters reports.

Boeing has already tried to make a similar launch in 2019 to the International Space Station, but faced numerous technical problems that took several years to resolve. Due to these delays, the company had to pay more than $1 billion in penalties. If the mission is successfully completed, Boeing will join SpaceX as the second provider of space travel for NASA. The test launch is scheduled for Monday. As a reminder, on March 14, Elon Musk's SpaceX performed the first launch of the Starship spacecraft, which, however, ended in a crash into the ocean during landing.