Boeing's Starliner joins select club of crewed US spaceships
Washington (AFP) - Throughout the annals of American space exploration, a select few spacecraft have had the distinction of carrying human beings beyond Earth. Next week, Boeing is poised to join this elite group with the long-awaited launch of its Starliner capsule, just the sixth class of vessel built in the United States for NASA astronauts. Here's a recap of their storied past, marked by groundbreaking triumphs and some devastating setbacks. MercuryKnown as America's "man-in-space" program, Project Mercury was born just days after NASA itself was formed in 1958, and officials settled on th...