More than two years after their ill-fated crewed flight test, NASA and Boeing announced Monday they would move forward with flying Starliner again as soon as December.
Starliner-1 will be an uncrewed mission, which both NASA and Boeing committed to previously. Its launch is expected between December and January, while Starliner-2 is expected to have a crew and fly in 2028. From there, NASA and Boeing intend to fly Starliner to the International Space Station for further missions, including the possibility of contracting for more flights.
Starliner is one part of NASA's Commercial Crew program, an initiative that, among other things, allows private companies to fly to the International Space Station and has been touted as a taste of the future of space exploration, while NASA turns its sights on the Moon and Mars. SpaceX is also contracted with NASA through the program, which is now about to embark on its 13th mission.
In total, NASA anticipated spending $359 million for the new initiatives with Boeing. Their contract was originally listed for $4.1 billion before being reduced last fall to $3.7 billion as NASA reduced its contracted flights from six to four. Now, Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program, said it's possible NASA could return to its original plan for six Starliner flights.
"It means that I have the right to go and authorize those [two flights], and that means Boeing will go start work," Weigel said in a press conference on Monday. "They can’t spend money, and I don’t make payments until I authorize them."
In 2024, Starliner went on its crewed test flight with two astronauts on board — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. As it was on the way to the International Space Station, the Starliner's service module had helium leaks, and five of its thrusters failed due to overheating. At one point, Wilmore had to take manual control of the spacecraft because the automated system lost control of the vehicle.
Starliner did successfully dock with the ISS, but NASA decided it was too great a risk for the two astronauts, to fly back to Earth on the Starliner. Instead, their planned eight-day mission was extended to 286 days. Both Wilmore and Williams have since retired.
In February, NASA unveiled the findings of a Program Investigation Team (PIT) and officially labeled the incident a "type A mishap," its strongest such designation on par with some of the most significant disasters in NASA's history.
In June, just months after NASA labeled the Boeing Starliner test flight as a “Type A” mishap, NASA’s Office of Inspector General released a scathing report of the program’s oversight of Boeing’s Starliner, stating, in part, “unresolved technical issues were driven by NASA’s and Boeing’s overconfidence in the company’s use of heritage systems, unachievable schedule, and limited flight simulation data.”
In a press conference on Monday, NASA officials expressed confidence in the redesigns that they and Boeing have identified in Starliner. Portions of both Starliner's crew module and service module have been redesigned and replaced, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. Some changes, including a crew module thruster modification, will be installed eventually.
"When we get something wrong, we have to investigate how it occurred and be open and transparent about the findings, so we can learn from them, so we can fix the problems, and, again, move forward," Isaacman said. "With respect to the Starliner program, the teams have made substantial progress in that regard. Corrective actions have been assigned across the PIT recommendations, with the work divided between what is required for an uncrewed Starliner-1 mission and what must be completed before it carries our astronauts once again on Starliner-2."
As a vote of confidence, NASA has already named the commander of the crewed Starliner-2 mission: Warren "Woody" Hoburg, a Pennsylvania native who joined the astronaut program in 2017. Hoburg previously piloted SpaceX's Crew-6 mission to the ISS.
"I have enormous confidence in the decisions we're announcing today," Hoburg said during Monday's press conference. "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."
Additional crew members, including from international partners, could be added as the Starliner progresses toward crewed flights.
In order to reach that point, Starliner has to be certified for human spaceflight. John Mulholland, a Boeing executive who manages its role in the Commercial Crew Program, said it will be "ready to meet the certification requirements" following the uncrewed Starliner-1 flight and enhancements made with the new NASA funding.
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