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  A view of Starliner and its Service Module mounted for the test. [credit:
  NASA TV ]

On a cold Monday morning in New Mexico, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft took flight for the first time. Under the power of its main launch abort engines, the capsule accelerated to 650mph in just 5 seconds during a demonstration of its escape system.

The pad abort test marked a critical milestone as Boeing seeks to fly humans to the International Space Station sometime in 2020. During Monday’s 75-second test, Starliner appeared to successfully demonstrate its ability to rapidly escape from a problem with its Atlas V rocket during launch.

The test evidently proceeded nominally until the main parachutes deployed—only two rather than three emerged from the capsule as it descended to the desert floor. During the webcast, both Boeing’s Jessica Landa and NASA’s Dan Huot said the deployment of two parachutes fell within the safety requirements of the system, and that this result was “within the bounds” of this test.