Boeing's Starliner: A Rocky Road to Space

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has had a bumpy journey, to say the least. After several setbacks and a failed mission, NASA has decided to cut back on the number of planned Starliner flights to the International Space Station (ISS). Originally, Boeing was supposed to send six crewed missions under a $4. 5 billion contract. But now, NASA has reduced that number to just four, with two more as backup options. The next Starliner mission, called Starliner-1, won't even have a crew. Instead, it will be a cargo run to the ISS, scheduled for no earlier than April 2026. This mission is meant to test and validate the upgrades made to the spacecraft after its last failed attempt. Things went wrong during Starliner's first crewed mission in June 2024. Five thrusters failed, and there were five helium leaks. NASA decided it was too risky to bring the astronauts back on the same spacecraft. So, they had to use SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to return the crew. The empty Starliner eventually made its way back to Earth in September. Because of these issues, NASA had to rely on SpaceX for its Crew-10, Crew-11, and upcoming Crew-12 missions. This was not the plan. NASA wanted to have multiple commercial partners for sending astronauts to space. But Boeing's Starliner has not delivered on its promises. The ISS is set to retire by 2030, leaving little time for Boeing to prove itself. However, NASA is not ready to give up on the Starliner program just yet. They still see it as important for maintaining a human presence in low Earth orbit.