It’s been two years since Starliner’s first crewed test flight fell apart in shambles, leaving a crew of two astronauts stranded in space. Now, Boeing seems hopeful that its troubled spacecraft is ready to fly once again.
During a quarterly earnings call this week, Boeing’s Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg suggested that most of the work being done to troubleshoot Starliner’s technical issues is complete, Ars Technica reported. Boeing is working with NASA to coordinate an upcoming launch date for Starliner to carry cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), which would pave the way for another crewed test flight to possibly take place in late 2027.
“We’ve got to work with NASA to align on the launches,” Ortberg said during the call. “I don’t at this time anticipate that’s going to create a cost problem for us, but we do have some uncertainty here that we’ve got to work with NASA to get that put to bed, and we are working with them right now.”
The Starliner saga
Boeing has been working on fixing Starliner’s technical issues since the spacecraft returned uncrewed in September 2024. Five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during its rendezvous with the ISS, forcing NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams to perform manual piloting. Starliner also developed five helium leaks, one of which had been identified prior to its launch.
Earlier this year, NASA officials said that teams have made great progress toward fixing the helium leaks and testing the thrusters that malfunctioned during Starliner’s last mission. At the time, NASA was hopeful that Starliner would return to flight in April for an uncrewed mission. That didn’t happen.
Later in June, NASA seemed less optimistic about Starliner’s return to flight, with space agency officials stating that the upcoming crewed mission would take place in the next year or so.
The recent statements from Boeing, however, paint a different picture. “The redesign of the Starliner deficiencies is going quite well, and we’re feeling pretty good about that,” Ortberg said, according to Ars Technica.
Ortberg went on to suggest that while most of the work is complete, the company is waiting for an open docking port to become available on the ISS so that Starliner can make its way to the space station. Should there be a free docking port, Starliner could launch later this year on a cargo mission.
Not giving up just yet
NASA had originally hoped that Starliner would launch its first operational mission by early 2025. Following the spacecraft’s major fumble, the agency revised its commercial crew contract with Boeing and reduced the number of Starliner missions to four instead of six.
If Boeing doesn’t get to launch its Starliner spacecraft soon, it puts the company at further risk of not being able to fulfill its end of the $4.3 billion deal with NASA. Boeing has already lost around $2 billion in cost overruns from the Starliner Commercial Crew Program.
Boeing retains full ownership of the Starliner spacecraft while NASA acts as a customer. As the Starliner saga began to unfold, Boeing began exploring the option of selling some parts of its space business, including the Starliner spacecraft. To date, no sale has been closed.
For its part, NASA has classified the test flight as a Type A mishap, stating that the agency’s overarching goal of having multiple crew transport systems influenced engineering and operational decisions during the mission. Still, NASA seems to be willing to give its commercial partner another chance. Hopefully Boeing gets it right this time.
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