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Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft will fly cargo only on its next mission to the International Space Station.
NASA has modified its contract with the aerospace and defence prime, which in 2014 awarded Boeing up to six crewed flights to the ISS, cutting the deal to four missions with options for two more, while the upcoming mission in April 2026 will be uncrewed.
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It comes after the US space agency in June said it was “still evaluating” whether Starlinert’s next flight would carry crew.
“The next Starliner flight, known as Starliner-1, will be used by NASA to deliver necessary cargo to the orbital laboratory and allow in-flight validation of the system upgrades implemented following the Crew Flight Test mission last year,” NASA said in a statement.
“NASA and Boeing are targeting no earlier than April 2026 to fly the uncrewed Starliner-1 pending completion of rigorous test, certification, and mission readiness activities.
“Following Starliner certification, and a successful Starliner-1 mission, Starliner will fly up to three crew rotations to the International Space Station.”
According to Steve Stitch, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, certifying Starliner “remains important to NASA’s goal of sustained human presence in low Earth orbit”, and the agency is looking to have “dissimilar redundancy” in its operations.
Currently, NASA is reliant on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to carry crew to and from the ISS.
“NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year,” Stitch said.
“This modification allows NASA and Boeing to focus on safely certifying the system in 2026, execute Starliner’s first crew rotation when ready, and align our ongoing flight planning for future Starliner missions based on the station’s operational needs through 2030.”
Starliner blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year with two astronauts, but was forced to return uncrewed following issues with its thrusters and helium leaks.
It meant passengers Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams spent nine months in space and were forced to come home on a Dragon capsule in one of the most high-profile safety incidents in NASA’s history.
However, despite the problems, Starliner did return safely to Earth in a vindication for Boeing’s engineers, and the aerospace giant was reportedly confident it could have made the trip home with Wilmore and Williams onboard.
Subsequently, NASA made modifications to Starliner’s system to address its underlying problems.
Starliner’s very first attempt at a flight without humans onboard failed in 2019 due to software glitches, but it eventually docked with the ISS in May 2022.
