Liftoff at Last

It turned out that I first saw via Tumblr news of the Starliner space capsule with astronauts on board blasting off for the space station. Up until that moment I just might have been thinking more of reports the fourth test launch of SpaceX’s largest rocket could happen real soon, but I’d at least been aware of the slow advance of this alternative for sending people into orbit. The malfunctions of previous test flights without people on board provoked snide comments about Boeing being responsible for the capsule, and the Crew Dragon is now carrying “private crews,” but I am willing to hope this test flight gets to the space station all right.