Boeing CST-100 Starliner Pad Abort Test

Parachutes deploy in in Boeing’s Pad Abort Test of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, slowing the descent of the vehicle. The test, conducted Nov. 4, 2019, was designed to verify that each of Starliner’s systems will function not only separately, but in concert, to protect astronauts by carrying them safely away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency prior to liftoff. This is Boeing’s first test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is working to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil for the first time since 2011.