NASA Planning Another Test Flight by Boeing's Starliner
Despite a disastrous test launch that stranded two astronauts on board the International Space Station and caused it immense public embarrassment, Boeing hasn't given up on its Starliner spacecraft just yet.
As SpaceNews reports, NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich revealed last week that the agency is expecting another test flight with the craft. Whether a crew will be on board this time around remains unclear.
"What we'd like to do is that one flight and then get into a crew rotation flight," he said. "So, the next flight up would really test all the changes we're making to the vehicle, and then the next fight beyond that, we really need to get Boeing into a crew rotation. So, that's the strategy."
Starliner was developed under the same commercial crew program as SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which has completed a dozen successful crewed trips to the ISS over the last six years.
Boeing and NASA are hoping to address some of the technical issues that led to NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore having to watch the capsule return uncrewed last summer. Instead, the pair returned onboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft earlier this month — a nine-month delay.
"The thing that we need to solidify and go test is the prop system in the service module," Stich said. "We need to make sure we can eliminate the helium leaks, eliminate the service module thruster issues that we had on docking."
Even if the Starliner were to be launched without a crew, Stich said that the agency still wanted to have "all the systems in place that we could fly a crew with."
It's a surprising development, given how much of a disaster Starliner has been for Boeing and NASA alike. The aerospace giant has lost over $2 billion on the project since it began. Roughly a month after the capsule returned empty-handed last year, rumors started swirling that Boeing was looking to sell off its space business entire.
Boeing and NASA have remained strikingly tight-lipped since Starliner's return. But according to Stich, Boeing isn't ready to throw in the towel.
"Boeing, all the way up to their new CEO, Kelly [Ortberg], has been committed to Starliner," he said last week, as quoted by SpaceNews. "I see a commitment from Boeing to continue the program."
For now, NASA is buying itself some time until it has to decide what to do with Boeing's Starliner. The next scheduled crew rotation mission to the space station will be handled by SpaceX in July. It's still possible the agency may opt for Boeing's spacecraft for the mission after that.
But considering last year's performance, NASA and Boeing will have to tread carefully.
More on Starliner: You Will Never Guess What the Stranded Astronauts Got Paid for Their Trouble
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