During a meeting on Monday, members of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said the agency and Boeing were still committed to the return of Starliner to flight, but there was no target timeline for the launch of an unmanned mission, Spaceflight Now reports.
Former NASA astronaut and panel member Kent Rominger said during the meeting, “NASA and the Boeing Starliner crew continue to work toward the goal of certification, which includes defining what is necessary and acceptable for the next unmanned mission to minimize risk and confirm the crew’s mission readiness.”
still not happening
Starliner’s first crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) went horribly wrong. Five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during its rendezvous with the ISS, forcing NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams to perform manual piloting. Starliner also developed five helium leaks, one of which was identified before its launch.
NASA deemed the spacecraft unfit to carry astronauts back home. As a result, Wilmore and Williams were forced to spend nearly nine months on the ISS before returning to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
Boeing is working to fix Starliner’s technical issues as the spacecraft returns without a crew in September 2024. In the meantime, NASA is committed to ensuring that commercial spacecraft are suitable to carry its astronauts to the ISS.
In February, NASA officials said teams had made significant progress toward fixing helium leaks and testing thrusters that malfunctioned during Starliner’s last mission. At the time, NASA seemed optimistic that Starliner would return to flight for an unmanned mission in April. The agency also hoped Starliner could deliver a crew of astronauts to the ISS later this year.
Since then, neither the space agency nor Boeing has shared any updates on Starliner’s progress.
The saga continues
During Monday’s meeting, the level of uncertainty was high about when the Starliner would be ready to fly again. According to Spaceflight Now, Rominger said during the meeting, “The Starliner-1 uncrewed mission launch target is being reviewed as work remains to close out final propulsion system issues.”
Although there is no formal launch date yet for Starliner-1, advisory panel chair Susan Helms said the mission will take place “in the next year or so.”
Despite the many issues that have plagued the Starliner program since its inception, NASA is not going to give up on it just yet. NASA originally expected Starliner to launch its first operational mission in early 2025. As the Starliner failure began to unfold, the agency revised its commercial crew contract with Boeing and reduced the number of Starliner missions to four instead of six.
Now, time is running out for Boeing to fulfill its contract. The ISS will be retired by 2030, leaving little scope for Boeing to fulfill its $4.3 billion agreement with NASA. Fortunately, NASA has SpaceX to rely on to deliver crew and cargo to the space station, but the agency may have to abandon its initial goal of having two commercial partners perform its orbital trips.
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