Rosie the Rocketeer made history in a blast-off from Kennedy Space Center Thursday – as Boeings first crash-test dummy in space.
The dummy sat in the commander’s seat of the Boeing Starliner as it headed for the International Space Station.
She has a roughly 24-hour journey to dock with the International Space Station, a critical test of whether the Starline is a success.
The mission is Boeing’s second attempt to get its Starliner to dock with the ISS. The first one failed because of a software glitch.
If this mission works, Rosie will be replaced by a real astronaut as part of a four-strong crew.
NASA has turned to private-sector partners to ramp up missions to space.
Boeing is behind Elon Musks SpaceX in the space race, with the Tesla billionaire sending crews to the ISS already.
The failure of its first Starline mission cost the aviation giant close to $500 million in costs and lost revenue.
Starliner will return to earth in about 10 days time, landing on giant pads in one of Boeing’s landing sites, most likely in New Mexico.
