CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In a joint decision, Boeing and NASA have opted to postpone sending astronauts on the next Starliner mission, choosing instead to conduct a test flight focused on cargo to ensure the spacecraft’s safety.
This announcement, made on Monday, comes in the wake of the Starliner’s previous mission, where the only crewed flight returned to Earth using a SpaceX vehicle after an extended stay in space. During that mission, NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams successfully managed to dock the Starliner at the International Space Station in 2024. However, due to numerous complications with the capsule, NASA decided to have it return unmanned, resulting in the astronauts’ prolonged nine-month stint on the station.
Since then, engineers have been diligently working to address the thruster and other issues that troubled the Starliner. The upcoming cargo mission, which is slated to launch no earlier than April, will only proceed after further tests and the necessary certifications are completed.
In light of these developments, NASA has also decided to scale back the number of planned Starliner flights from six to four. Should the cargo mission prove successful, the remaining three flights will be reserved for crew exchanges before the anticipated decommissioning of the space station in 2030.
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