NASA still isn't sure when Boeing's Starliner will carry astronauts again

NASA still isn’t sure when it will next send astronauts on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which experienced problems on its first crewed test flight this summer.

Starliner’s next “potential” crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 “will be determined once there is a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification,” NASA officials wrote in a statement on Tuesday (October 15).

NASA and Boeing are still reviewing Starliner certification requirements after propulsion problems occurred during the first test flight carrying astronauts that launched June 5, agency officials added. “NASA will provide additional information as it becomes available,” the agency added.

The launch of Starliner’s first astronaut mission, called Crew Flight Test (CFT), went according to plan, but docking with the ISS on June 6 was problematic. Five of 28 engines in the capsule’s reaction control system experienced problems beforehand, causing a delay. NASA’s CFT astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams eventually arrived safely at the orbiting laboratory, but their planned 10-day mission was repeatedly extended as engineers fixed the problems.

Related: Astronauts would have been fine landing on Boeing’s Starliner, NASA says

Extensive ground and space testing failed to sufficiently allay NASA’s concerns, so Starliner departed without astronauts and landed autonomously on September 6. Wilmore and Williams remain aboard the ISS and have been reassigned to return home in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February 2025. The Crew Dragon launched on SpaceX’s Crew 9 mission last month, carrying two astronauts instead of the usual four to make room for the Starliner duo.

Propulsion problems with Starliner also occurred on its two unmanned test flights in 2019 and 2022, which both NASA and Boeing considered resolved before Williams and Wilmore were flown.

Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test capsule lands on September 6, 2024. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Before the CFT propulsion problems occurred, the Boeing spacecraft’s first operational mission – known as Starliner-1 – was scheduled to launch in 2025. So far, NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Mike Fincke and Canadian Space agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are assigned to the Starliner 1 mission.

The NASA update did not provide information about crew status should Starliner require a second test flight with astronauts or the program otherwise undergo significant changes.

In previous conversations with reporters, NASA officials said they are trying to determine whether Starliner performs well enough on CFT to meet certification requirements to fly operational ISS missions such as Starliner-1.

NASA released the update on Starliner operations as part of a longer discussion about manned flights to the ISS in 2025. As the agency previously said, SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission – the company’s 10th operational astronaut flight – will fly in February 2025 . On board will be NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), as well as mission specialists Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov from the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Crew-11 will then make the space station’s next rotation no earlier than July, NASA added in the update. The four-person astronaut crew for this mission has not yet been announced.

Crew-9 is expected to return home in February 2025 with Williams, Wilmore and astronauts Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos). Former Crew 9 astronauts Nicole Stott and Stephanie Wilson are eligible for future ISS missions after being pulled from the mission at the last minute in September.

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