Boeing spacecraft astronauts see new frontier for commercial space

Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson poses for a picture with NASA commercial crew astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada and his Star Liner crew astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, U.S., July 3, 2019. Picture taken July 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A crew of veteran U.S. astronauts and aviators are training in Houston for a manned mission to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft, which could also be used to take tourists into space on future missions.

The Boeing Starliner mission was originally scheduled for this month, but that has been delayed to at least the end of the year or into 2020 due to technical issues and amid a shakeup in the top echelons of the space agency.