NASA and Boeing are moving forward with a plan to launch astronauts to the International Space Station aboard Starliner once again after the last human mission experienced an anomaly that prevented it from returning with its test crew.
A test flight launched in June 2024 carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams encountered issues during the docking portion of the mission. Multiple thrusters on the Starliner failed during approach. Engineers were able to regain control and allow the spacecraft to dock to the station.
But the control issues, and a separate helium leak, prompted NASA and Boeing to return the capsule without a crew. Wilmore and Williams returned home months later in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
NASA classified the test flight as a “Type A mishap” due to its loss of control. A report released in February issues 61 recommendations to fix the Starliner program.
On Monday, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said Boeing is moving in the right direction to address them, which includes changes to the capsule’s control system.
“Mistakes and missteps in the business of sending astronauts to and from one of the most demanding and dangerous environments are always possibilities, despite how hard we work to minimize them,” he said at a press briefing at the Kennedy Space Center. “Alongside our partners, we endeavor to engineer safe vehicles, test and qualify hardware, train our operators and astronauts, mitigate the risk to the greatest extent possible, and then we fly.”
Isaacman said Boeing is moving towards a new uncrewed test flight as early as December, followed by a crewed test flight in 2028.
Fixes to the program include addressing the thruster issues, which Boeing discovered were due to corrosion. A new procedure is in place to flush out the hydrazine propellant to prevent similar damage.
NASA named astronaut Woody Hoburg to command the next crewed Starliner flight. Hoburg has flown to space once before on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, spending nearly 186 days in space.
“I have enormous confidence in the decisions we're announcing today,” he said. “We're putting the program on a path to correct the key technical deficiencies and return to crewed flight as soon as we're ready.”
Previous Starliner flights have flown on ULA’s Atlas V rocket. The company is phasing that vehicle out and relying on its replacement, Vulcan, for new launches. NASA will work with Boeing to get the Vulcan certified to carry humans. The fixes to Starliner and that certification process will cost NASA about $359 million.
NASA is committed to working with Boeing to transport astronauts to the space station and said it will purchase additional flights for a total of six crewed missions.
After the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA asked for commercial partners to ferry astronauts to and from the station. Boeing and SpaceX were awarded contracts totalling almost $6 billion combined.
On Thursday, SpaceX plans to launch its 13th operational mission to the station for NASA. But SpaceX has indicated plans to phase out its Dragon space capsule, focusing on developing its Starship vehicle instead.
While the space station is set to retire in the 2030s, NASA still sees a need for an additional launch provider.
“But from the beginning, commercial crew was built around competition,” Isaacman said, “and NASA continues to see real value in having two crew transportation providers.”
