In its latest shakeup to the Commercial Crew Program, NASA announced on Monday it has reduced the number of missions Boeing is required to fly to the International Space Station and changing the next flight from a crew mission to a cargo mission.
The original contract NASA awarded to Boeing and SpaceX called for each to fly an uncrewed demonstration flight to the ISS, followed by a crewed demo mission and then conduct six regular crew rotation missions.
Both companies launched their uncrewed demo flights in 2019, but their trajectories split dramatically after that. SpaceX was able to proceed to its crewed demo mission with its Dragon spacecraft, named Demo-2, in May 2020 and has so far flown 12 NASA crew missions to the orbiting outpost.
Meanwhile Boeing needed to repeat its uncrewed flight in 2022, dubbed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), because the 2019 Orbital Flight Test ran into issues that prevented the spacecraft from reaching the space station. The 2024 Crew Flight Test (CFT) also encountered multiple issues, mainly associated with the Starliner’s thrusters, which ultimately resulted in NASA ordering the capsule to return without a crew in September and the CFT astronauts coming home in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Since the conclusion of the Starliner CFT mission, NASA and Boeing have debated whether the next flight of Starliner would carry astronauts or not, with each public statement from NASA casting increasing doubt on a crewed flight.
Monday’s announcement made it official that the mission, dubbed Starliner-1, would be a cargo-only flight to the ISS, scheduled to launch no earlier than April 2026.
“NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in a statement. “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 station’s operational needs through 2030.”
NASA and Boeing also agreed to reduce the number of flights NASA’s is obligated to buy from Boeing from six down to four “with the remaining two available as options.” And with the decision for Starliner-1 to be cargo only, that means NASA may only have three flights with Starliner that will carry its astronauts to the ISS.
If Starliner-1 is a nominal flight, it opens the door for Starliner-2 to become Boeing’s first operational mission to the space station with crew onboard.
“The next commercial flight to the International Space Station without a specific provider assigned is targeted no earlier than October 2026. This flight will handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which is targeted to launch in early 2026,” a NASA spokesperson said.
What about the astronauts?
The next crew of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is now somewhat of a mystery, at least from a public perspective. Scott Tingle, the NASA astronaut who was named Starliner-1 commander in September 2022 was named as the newest chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office this month.
When Tingle was announced, the agency also said astronaut Mike Fincke would be the Starliner-1 pilot. However, he and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, another astronaut assigned to Starliner-1, were both tasked to fly as members of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission, which is currently in progress.
Spaceflight Now reached out to the Canadian Space Agency to see learn more about the fate of its astronaut, Joshua Kutryk, who was assigned to fly the Starliner-1 mission as a mission specialist. We’re waiting to hear back.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica’s senior space reporter, reported last week that NASA astronaut Luke Delaney was also in line to train for the Starliner-1 mission at one point, but has been reassigned to the SpaceX Crew-13 mission.
There are some astronauts who have trained to fly on Starliner and were reassigned to fly on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft who could conceivably be assigned to the Starliner-2 flight, assuming all goes well with this next cargo mission.
Nicole Mann was one of the original members of the Starliner Crew Flight Test mission before being tasked to SpaceX Crew-5. She was picked alongside NASA astronaut Eric Boe who withdrew for medical reasons a the time.
The only other active astronaut who has been publicly confirmed to have trained on the Starliner systems is CFT Pilot Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams. However, given that Starliner-2 would be her fourth mission after already accumulating more than 600 days in space, she may run up against radiation limits for NASA astronauts.
Below are the list of astronauts who have retired from active service who trained to fly on Starliner (either for CFT or Starliner-1):
- Josh Cassada
- Jeanette Epps
- Chris Ferguson
- Koichi Wakata (JAXA)
- Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore
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