NASA announced Monday that it plans to send Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station on an uncrewed mission as early as December, followed by a crewed Starliner Two mission in 2028. The flights come after a troubled test flight in June 2024 left US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded at the ISS for nine months.
Williams and Wilmore launched on a mission initially expected to last eight to 14 days. However, Starliner encountered propulsion problems in orbit, and NASA determined that the spacecraft was not safe to return them to Earth. The astronauts remained at the space station until a later mission brought them home.
NASA’s investigation attributed the failure to engineering vulnerabilities in Starliner and classified the incident as a “Type A” mishap, the same category associated with the fatal Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. Boeing and NASA have since worked to address the problems and prepare the spacecraft for two upcoming missions.
The first flight, expected no earlier than December, will not carry astronauts. Its purpose will be to gather data and validate the recent repairs, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters. “From there, we will gather data, continue implementing the remaining changes recommended in the Program Investigation Team report, and plan for a crewed Starliner Two mission in 2028,” he said.
A successful crewed flight is especially important as Starliner is central to NASA’s long-term plans. Rival company SpaceX has said it intends to end production of its reusable Crew Dragon capsules, which have been the only other spacecraft used to transport US astronauts to the ISS since 2020.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nasa-announces-new-missions-for-boeing-starliner-spacecraft-12111929#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-09-29 03:42:00
