NASA Won’t Let Starliner Die Just Yet, Even After Boeing’s Space Fiasco

The Starliner saga may not be over just yet. Despite a failed test flight that left a crew stranded in space, NASA still hasn’t given up on Boeing’s ill-fated spacecraft. Starliner may get another chance to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

During a briefing on Wednesday, NASA officials revealed that they are looking into launching another test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft before certifying the vehicle for regular crew rotation missions. “What we’d like to do is that one flight and then get into a crew rotation flight,” Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said, according to SpaceNews. “So, the next flight up would really test all the changes we’re making to the vehicle, and then the next fight beyond that, we really need to get Boeing into a crew rotation. So, that’s the strategy.”

Boeing’s Starliner launched to the ISS on June 5carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams for the spacecraft’s first crewed test flight. Things did not go smoothly, however, as five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed on its way to the ISSand Starliner returned home empty after NASA deemed it unfit to fly the crew back to Earth. The space agency came up with a nifty plan to return the astronauts from space by hitching a ride aboard a SpaceX Dragon crew vehicle.

An upcoming Starliner test flight will verify that the spacecraft’s thrusters function properly in space after modifications to its malfunctioning propulsion system. Boeing is planning a ground test of the propulsion system this summer to review the company’s fixes. A subsequent flight to the ISS will demonstrate the spacecraft’s ability to operate in a space environment that’s difficult to replicate on Earth, Stich said during the briefing. Once the changes have been validated, NASA hopes to include the Starliner spacecraft in its crew mission schedule—one currently dominated (though “monopolized” might be a better word)—by SpaceX and its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX contracts in 2014 as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program to develop spacecraft capable of carrying crew and cargo to the ISS. So far, Boeing hasn’t met the end of its $4.3 billion Commercial Crew Program contract with NASA while its competition, SpaceX, has flown 10 crews to the ISS and back.

Starliner’s crewed test flight was supposed to be its last before being certified to transport crew to the ISS on a regular basis, along with SpaceX. But the botched flight prompted NASA to delay Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s next chance at flying to the ISS. The space agency had hoped Starliner would launch its first crew mission by early 2025. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Instead, NASA tapped its more reliable commercial partner, SpaceX, to launch the Crew-10 mission on March 12. SpaceX’s Dragon was also used to retrieve the two Starliner astronauts from the ISS.

Despite Starliner’s disastrous crew flight, NASA is still willing to give its commercial partner another chance at carrying astronauts to and from the ISS so that it can have two private vehicles as options instead of just the one, and wean itself off full dependency on SpaceX as its ride.