Cape Canaveral   -   Troubled aerospace giant Boeing will try once more to fly its first crew to the International Space Station aboard a Starliner spaceship on Saturday, after the last attempt was scrubbed hours before liftoff. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are “go” for launch atop a United Launch Alliance rocket at 12:25 pm (1625 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  The pair, both former Navy test pilots with two spaceflights under their belts, exchanged thumbs-up signs and waves with their families as they emerged from the historic Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Saturday morning.

Clad in bright blue suits, they boarded a van for the journey to the launch pad, where they watched highlights from “Top Gun: Maverick” to get pumped up for the mission ahead.

Weather was 90 percent favorable for launch, with winds posing the only potential for concern.

NASA is looking to certify Boeing as a second commercial operator to ferry crews to the ISS -- something Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already been doing for the US space agency for four years.

Both companies received multibillion-dollar contracts in 2014 to develop their gumdrop-shaped, autonomously piloted crew capsules, following the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 that left the US temporarily reliant on Russian rockets for rides.

Boeing, with its 100-year history, was heavily favored over its then-upstart competitor, but its program has faced years of delays and safety scares that mirror the myriad problems afflicting its commercial airline division.

Wilmore and Williams were strapped in and ready to blast off on May 6 when a faulty rocket valve forced ground teams to call off that launch.