NASA has long insisted that it wants to retain Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft as an option to ferry astronauts to the space station — even after the June 2024 crewed flight test left NASA and Boeing racing for a solution to get two astronauts home.
Now the space agency announced a new plan to get Starliner finally certified to fly crew.
A Nov. 24 update from the NASA Commercial Crew Program states that Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is slated to fly again as soon as next April 2026, but the mission will be an uncrewed cargo delivery. The mission is referred to as Starliner-1.
“NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is quoted as saying in a NASA press release.
“This modification allows NASA and Boeing to focus on safely certifying the system in 2026, execute Starliner’s first crew rotation when ready, and align our ongoing flight planning for future Starliner missions based on station’s operational needs through 2030.”
Starliner-1 was originally supposed to be a crew rotation mission but the troubled crew test flight shifted the timeline and contract.
“The next Starliner flight, known as Starliner-1, will be used by NASA to deliver necessary cargo to the orbital laboratory and allow in-flight validation of the system upgrades implemented following the Crew Flight Test mission last year,” the Nov. 24 release states.
Should this uncrewed flight be successful, NASA will consider up to three crewed missions to the ISS before the space station’s planned 2030-31 decommission.
Boeing’s original contract was for six flights, however NASA said that the reduction to four was a mutual agreement. Boeing’s initial contract was for $4.82 billion. The Starliner was selected alongside SpaceX’s Dragon in 2014 as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Since 2020, the SpaceX Dragon has ferried 12 crews to the ISS. At the time of selection, the SpaceX contract was for $3.14 billion.
What happened to Boeing’s Starliner?
During its crewed flight test last year, the spacecraft experienced helium leaks and its thrusters malfunctioned upon docking with the International Space Station. This incident led NASA to opt for returning the spacecraft without its crew, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
What was supposed to be a two-week test flight in June 2024 turned into more than a nine-month mission onboard the ISS as the two astronauts were reassigned to the incoming Crew-10 mission. The two returned to Earth onboard the Crew-10 SpaceX Dragon in March 2025.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA says Boeing’s Starliner to fly again but without astronauts first
Reporting by Brooke Edwards, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
