NASA has confirmed in the last few days that Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will not carry astronauts on its next mission. The agency announced that the upcoming flight, designated Starliner-1, will instead be a cargo-only trip to the International Space Station. NASA and Boeing are now aiming for no earlier than April 2026 for this next mission. According to Ars Technica, the new plan comes after months of speculation and follows revisions to the commercial crew contract between the two organizations.
Fox 35 Orlando reports that this change to a cargo-only mission is significant because it reduces the number of guaranteed Starliner flights in NASA’s commercial crew program. Originally, Boeing’s contract with NASA covered six crewed flights to the ISS, but the revised contract now drops that number to four, with two additional flights available as options. This follows a troubled mission last year, when the Starliner’s first crewed test suffered propulsion system failures, including helium leaks and thruster issues. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were left on the International Space Station far beyond the planned eight-day stay, ultimately requiring a SpaceX capsule to return them to Earth after more than nine months.
NASA and Boeing are focused on validating Starliner’s propulsion and other critical systems before any astronauts can fly again. Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, told Executive Gov that this contract change allows the agency and Boeing to focus on safely completing certification work and planning future flights more in line with the space station’s needs, particularly as the ISS is scheduled for retirement in 2030.
Space Daily explains that NASA prefers dissimilar redundancy between SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner for astronaut transfers to ensure reliable access to low Earth orbit. With the ISS’s decommissioning date looming, scheduling is tight, leaving limited opportunities for additional Starliner missions unless Crew Dragon experiences issues or the station’s service life is extended.
The Australian Aviation outlet emphasizes that the uncrewed Starliner-1 mission will allow NASA and Boeing to evaluate recent system upgrades, especially to the propulsion system, and to verify their safety under operational conditions. If all goes well and the Starliner meets NASA’s stringent requirements, up to three more crewed Starliner missions could occur before the ISS is retired. However, if problems persist or SpaceX’s Crew Dragon remains problem-free, the Starliner’s role in NASA's astronaut rotation plan may remain limited.
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