WASHINGTON — NASA’s safety advisers say that while the agency and Boeing continue to make progress in addressing problems with the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle, it could be up to a year before it flies again.
Members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, or ASAP, said at a June 22 meeting that although Boeing was committed to fixing problems with Starliner, there was no clear timetable for flying the vehicle on an uncrewed test flight, called Starliner-1.
“Teams continue to work through technical issues from CFT and address actions from the PIT report,” said Kent Rominger, a former astronaut and member of the panel.
Starliner last launched in June 2024 on the Crew Flight Test, or CFT, mission with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on board. The spacecraft experienced thruster failures on its approach to the International Space Station and, after months of analysis, NASA concluded it was not safe for Starliner to return with people on board. The spacecraft made an uncrewed return in September, while Williams and Wilmore remained on the ISS until March 2025, returning on a Crew Dragon.
NASA released in February an independent report into the CFT mission by what the agency called a Program Investigation Team, or PIT. It found flawed decision-making and leadership by agency officials during the mission and recommended that the flight be categorized as a “Type A” mishap, the most serious kind. NASA accepted that recommendation.
Neither NASA nor Boeing have provided significant updates since February on work to correct the technical problems with Starliner and implement recommendations from the independent report. NASA said at a May briefing about a SpaceX commercial cargo mission to the ISS that launch plans for Starliner-1 “remain under review as teams continue working through technical issues.”
“The Starliner-1 uncrewed mission’s launch target is under review as work continues to close the final propulsion system issues,” Rominger said at the ASAP meeting. “Teams have a better understanding of the anomalies experienced during CFT through investigations and testing.”
He said integrated Boeing and NASA teams have made good progress closing all 72 observations from the CFT mission and 22 of the 28 in-flight anomalies. However, he said some of the biggest issues with the flight, such as failures of reaction control system thrusters in Starliner’s service module and heating of “doghouses” that contain the thrusters, “remain constraints for Starliner-1.”
Rominger also noted progress on organizational changes at NASA and Boeing, including leadership changes and direct coordination between Boeing and NASA mission managers. “There’s a renewed focus on improving trust and communication between NASA and Boeing,” he said.
The uncertainty about when Starliner-1 will launch contrasted with optimism early in the year. In early February, before the release of the PIT report, NASA officials said Starliner-1 could launch as soon as April. However, by May, the agency said it was unclear whether the mission could launch this year, citing limited opportunities in the ISS schedule.
Later in the meeting, Susan Helms, chair of ASAP, reiterated that there was no formal launch date yet for Starliner-1, but said that mission would take place “in the next year or so.”
While the schedule for Starliner-1 remains uncertain, ASAP members said they have assurances from NASA and Boeing that the company wants to fly the spacecraft again and obtain certification for crewed missions.
“NASA and Boeing continue working toward the goal of Starliner’s crewed certification, which includes defining what is needed and acceptable for the next uncrewed mission to reduce risk and confirm readiness for crewed missions,” Rominger said.
He added the panel met with Don Ruhmann, Boeing’s chief aerospace safety officer. Ruhmann “emphasized Boeing’s commitment to NASA and Starliner,” he said. Ruhmann also met with NASA’s astronaut office and offered “his commitment to a safe Starliner service.”
NASA, though, is preparing for scenarios where Starliner does not return to service soon or at all. In a procurement filing last month, the agency said it planned to add six flights to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract, citing “technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing” among the reasons for doing so. The additional SpaceX flights would be enough to handle projected ISS operations through its scheduled retirement in 2030.
