Starliner future plans still in limbo

telcodad

A year after the launch of a flawed crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner, the future of the program remains uncertain as NASA announced late Friday that the next flight of the spacecraft was being delayed to early 2026 at the soonest:

Starliner future plans still in limbo
By Jeff Foust, Space News - June 8, 2025
https://spacenews.com/starliner-future-plans-still-in-limbo/

A year after the launch of a flawed crewed test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, NASA has yet to determine the next mission for the spacecraft with mixed signals about the vehicle’s future. In a statement June 6, NASA said it was still studying options for the next flight of Starliner, expected no earlier than early 2026. That includes whether that next flight will be crewed or uncrewed.

“NASA is assessing the earliest potential for a Starliner flight to the International Space Station in early 2026, pending system certification and resolution of Starliner’s technical issues,” the agency stated. “The agency is still evaluating whether Starliner’s next flight will be in a crew or cargo configuration.” ….

px_eliezer_

The necessity of not ONLY depending on Elon’s Dragon (or the Russians) may give new life to Boeing Starliner.

InternetJeff

px_eliezer_ The necessity of not ONLY depending on Elon’s Dragon (or the Russians) may give new life to Boeing Starliner.

That assumes that Boeing can pull their head out of their ass. They’re already over $2B in the hole on $5B in fixed-price contract commitments. And that was as of February. That means, even if they don’t have to spend any more money (they will, a lot), the best they can do is get paid $5B for $7B in costs. That’s best case. Worst case is that shareholders revolt, and possible government contract debarment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/04/boeing-starliner-crew-spacecraft-losses-total-2-billion.html

px_eliezer_

InternetJeff

Understood but desperate governments can do foolish things.

telcodad

NASA considering flying only cargo on next Starliner mission
By Jeff Foust, Space News - July 11, 2025
https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-flying-only-cargo-on-next-starliner-mission/

NASA officials say there is a “strong chance” that the next test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle will be uncrewed as work continues to fix issues with the spacecraft. At a July 10 briefing about the upcoming SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station, Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said the agency had yet to decide on plans for the next Starliner test flight after the problems experienced on the Crew Flight Test mission last year.

“We really are working toward a flight as soon as early next year,” he said of Starliner. “Ultimately, our goal is to get into crew rotation flights with Starliner and those would start no earlier than the second rotation slot at the end of next year.”

He indicated, though, that the test flight early next year, designed to confirm fixes currently being tested for helium leaks and thermal issues with the vehicle’s thrusters and their “doghouse” enclosures, would likely be one carrying only cargo and not astronauts. …..

InternetJeff

I’m just going to go out on a limb (not really) and predict that the Starliner program is going end up being canceled.

WalterDnes

telcodad “Ultimately, our goal is to get into crew rotation flights with Starliner and those would start no earlier than the second rotation slot at the end of next year.”

So, AT BEST, Starliner would get 4 paying crew flights; in the 2nd half of 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029. That’s assuming Elon doesn’t get his wish to have ISS de-orbited earlier. Boeing should cut their losses and write off Starliner.

MacLeech

WalterDnes Starliner was also planned to be used for the commercial Orbital Reef space station, once the ISS was decommissioned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Reef

px_eliezer_

Safety panel says NASA should have taken Starliner incident more seriously.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/safety-panel-says-nasa-should-have-taken-starliner-incident-more-seriously/

A very detailed, and disturbing, article.

InternetJeff

If it were me, I would say that the totality of the information available now clearly supports TfD.

telcodad

An independent review of the first piloted flight of the Starliner spacecraft concluded that the test represented a potentially life-threatening “type A” mishap resulting from multiple technical problems and management miscues, NASA officials said today:

‘We almost did have a really terrible day.’ NASA now says Boeing’s 1st Starliner astronaut flight was a ‘Type A mishap’
“This was a really challenging event in our recent history.”
By Mike Wall, Space.com - February 19, 2026
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/we-almost-did-have-a-really-terrible-day-nasa-now-says-boeings-1st-starliner-astronaut-flight-was-a-type-a-mishap

The first astronaut mission of Boeing’s Starliner taxi was a bumpier ride than NASA wanted to admit at the time.

The agency announced today (Feb. 19) that it has reclassified Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) as a “Type A mishap” — the most serious kind, in the same category as the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia tragedies.

“This was a really challenging event in our recent history,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said during a press conference today, which highlighted the findings of a report into CFT and its issues. “We almost did have a really terrible day.”

CFT launched on June 5, 2024, sending NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS) for a planned 10-day stay.

Starliner reached the orbiting lab safely. On the way, however, the spacecraft suffered multiple thruster failures and temporarily lost “six degree of freedom” control — the ability to precisely maintain its desired orientation and trajectory.

“Flight rules were appropriately challenged, control was recovered and docking was achieved,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during today’s press conference, reading from a letter that he said he had just sent to all NASA employees.

But, he added, “it is worth restating what should be obvious: At that moment, had different decisions been made, had thrusters not been recovered, or had docking been unsuccessful, the outcome of this mission could have been very, very different.” ….

InternetJeff

Wow.

bennor

From Scott Manley…

I took a couple of days to read NASA’s Starliner Reportand figure out as much of the technical detail as possible, there are a lot of redactions that required me to put together the pieces to explain
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-releases-report-on-starliner-crewed-flight-test-investigation/

InternetJeff

Butch Williams, Starliner Mission Commander, shares what really happened…

WalterDnes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Starliner

Hurley recounted a stark contrast in the working relationships between the astronauts and the engineers at the two companies. While the SpaceX engineers were receptive to feedback, enthusiastic about collaborating, and attentive to suggestions, Hurley found the Boeing engineers to be indifferent, arrogant, and overconfident. He also said the Boeing team failed to inform the astronauts about the propellant leak that occurred during the Pad Abort Test. Ultimately, Hurley told the chief of the astronaut office that he would not fly on Starliner.

That’s right… Doug Hurley told NASA he was not flying on Starlimer. It was that bad.

InternetJeff

WalterDnes

He also said the Boeing team failed to inform the astronauts about the propellant leak that occurred during the Pad Abort Test

IMO, that should be reason enough to cancel the contract. Blackball Boeing from future contracts until they clean out their management.

HooRU

Not that simple. Yeah, some management should be gone, those in the culture. But whiping out any part of a business when what really needs to happen first (getting rid of top management) is potentially devastating. There is established talent you could throw away. A business correction is what is needed. Boeing is seeing changes as we speak. I don’t know if it is enough, but I sure hope so.

MacLeech

InternetJeff Boeing’s contracts for the SLS EUS (Exploration Upper Stage), SLS Block 1B, and SLS Block 2 rockets were cancelled (along with Bechtel ML-2) at the end of February. Those were also WAY past due and over budget. ULA got the replacement contract for the new SLS upper stage based on Vulcan Centaur V upper stage for use on future SLS Block 1 rockets.

Whether those cancellations are directly related to the Starliner problems and NASA’s overall loss in trust of Boeing is debatable.

NASA won’t cancel Starliner because they want a second American manned spacecraft available besides SpaceX Dragon for space station flights. If there was another option availabe, Starliner would be dropped like a hot potato.

px_eliezer_

MacLeech

In your view:

1) What will it take for Boeing to “fly right” ??

2) Are they capable of it ??

InternetJeff

HooRU A business correction is what is needed.

It’s not a “business correction” that is needed, it’s a wholesale cleanout of incompetent design and technical areas. The failed thrusters and/or helium leaks that stranded two astronauts for months on the ISS were technical issues, either design, QA, or substandard maintenance.

In the Air Force when encountering these shenanigans on a critical project contract we would TfC (Terminate for Convenience), or if it was a serious safety or design issue, we would TfD (Terminate for Default). The contract would then immediately be recompeted. Failure of a man-rated system like this would certainly fall under a serious safety or design issue.

In addition, for a long while now one of the evaluation factors in awarding contracts has been Past Performance. That would be a serious negative in winning future contracts.

The Starliner technical fiasco has been classified as a Type-A mishap, the same general category as Columbia and Challenger.