Boeing hopes to polish its reputation with Starliner crew capsule launch

Company, which has been plagued by safety issues in its avionics wing, will send two astronauts to the ISS in its new spacecraft

Boeing has an opportunity on Monday night to restore some luster to its tarnished name, with the scheduled first crewed launch from Florida of Starliner, a pioneering new capsule designed to transform human exploration of space.

Although the company's space operations are entirely independent of its aviation wing, which has been plagued by a recent series of safety and quality issues, the spacecraft's pathway to the Cape Canaveral launchpad, and planned 10.34pm ET liftoff, has been similarly bumpy.