Boeing Starliner set for uncrewed return by January 2027 ahead of 2028 crewed flight

The agency will also work to certificate Starliner’s next rocket, the Vulcan Centaur.
NASA has signalled renewed commitment to Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, revealing plans to complete an uncrewed flight by January 2027 and a crewed mission in 2028.

Agency officials on 28 September disclosed the timeline for the flights, which are intended to enable it and Boeing to evaluate Starliner design changes.

The team is making those changes in response to problems that arose during Starliner’s first crewed mission, to the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024.

“NASA is targeting no earlier than December 2026 for an uncrewed Starliner mission to the International Space Station to validate the recent remediation efforts,” says NASA administrator Jared Isaacman.

The agency clarifies that the mission – called Starliner-1 – could come a bit later, by January next year. The team will use data from that flight and make necessary adjustments ahead of a planned crewed Starliner mission in 2028, which Isaacman says will be called Starliner-2.

Also on 28 September, NASA low-earth orbit programme manager Dana Weigel disclosed the agency will spend $359 million to fund the Starliner updates and to certificate United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is to replace the out-of-production Atlas V rockets.

ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The work all falls under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), to which Boeing and competitor SpaceX supply spacecraft.

“The Starliner contract modification reflects a strong, safety-first partnership between the company and the agency and underscores NASA and Boeing’s continued commitment to Starliner as a long-term human spaceflight provider,” Boeing says.

NASA adjusted its contract with Boeing in response to the 5 June 2024 flight, when thrusters on Starliner’s crew module failed due to corrosion from “residual hydrazine propellant combined with atmospheric exposure”, says Weigel. Additionally, the spacecraft’s service module suffered thruster problems and helium leaks.

The mission delivered two astronauts to the ISS; NASA had intended to bring them back in Starliner but opted to fly the spacecraft back to earth without them. The astronauts returned after 93 days in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

But Boeing and NASA have been working on Starliner fixes.

Teams are replacing seals and tightening tolerances to prevent helium leaks; they are also addressing the crew-module thruster problem with procedures to “flush out” hydrazine and “to flow a continuous purge, to isolate those thrusters from the environment”, Weigel says.

The team is also redesigning “poppets” on the service module’s thrusters – which must be completed before resuming crewed flights, says Isaacman.

He says NASA intends to exercise options with Boeing to complete two more Starliner missions – a fifth and sixth, in addition to the four for which the partners are already contracted.

NASA also confirms it will work with United Launch Alliance and Boeing to certificate the Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is expected to propel Starliner on missions subsequent to the sixth.

Starliner lifting off under an Atlas V rocket during the 5 June 2024 mission. Source: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Starliner currently uses Atlas V rockets, but those are out of production, and only six remain in inventory, says Isaacman.

SpaceX uses its own Falcon 9 rocket to propel Dragon but intends to replace both with Starship, an in-development reusable launch vehicle composed of a rocket booster and spacecraft that together represent the largest and most powerful rocket system ever built.

Despite Starliner issues, Isaacman defends NASA’s decision to continue with two spacecraft providers, citing eventual expected demand for one crewed mission to low-earth orbit every six months.

Competition, he says, will “drive down cost” and support the “broader commercial ecosystem”.

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