Boeing successfully tested a safety system of its commercial spacecraft on Monday morning, bringing the American aerospace industry one step closer to launching astronauts to the International Space Station f or the first time since 2011.

The company ran an uncrewed test on the launch abort system of the CST-100 Starliner, a 16.5-foot spacecraft that can carry up to seven people, in New Mexico.

At 7:15 a.m. local time, the capsule blasted off from its support platform and soared thousands of feet into the air above the White Sands Missile Range. Less than two minutes later, it was gliding back down to earth under two red, white and blue parachutes.

A third main chute did not deploy, but the craft still landed safely.

NASA broadcast live coverage of the test on its website. The safety test, also called a pad abort test, was meant to de monstrate whether the part of the spacecraft that carries that crew would be able to successfully detach itself from a malfunctioning rocket in the case of an emergency.