NASA pares back Boeing's Starliner deal after 2024 calamity

"NASA has modified its Commercial Crew contract with Boeing, dropping the order from six to four missions, of which one will be uncrewed. The uncrewed mission, Starliner-1, will be used for in-flight validation of the upgrades made to Boeing's Calamity Capsule following the disastrous test flight in 2024 that left the crew, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, with an unexpectedly long stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA engineers had deemed the vehicle unsafe to return the astronauts to Earth."

"Starliner-1 will not launch before April 2026. Assuming all goes well, the capsule will fly up to three crew rotations to the ISS. Managers hope to squeeze one of those missions into next year. The original contract was awarded in 2014. At least two and up to six crewed missions were initially offered. Boeing's price was $4.2 billion. The other successful bidder, SpaceX, came in at $2.6 billion."

"Only a few years had passed since the Space Shuttles were retired. SpaceX conducted its first crewed demonstration flight in 2020 and has since reliably ferried astronauts to and from the ISS. Boeing has fared less well, finally getting a crewed test flight launched in 2024, only to have to return the capsule uncrewed. It is more than a year since the uncrewed return of the Calamity Capsule, during which time speculation increased over the fate of Boeing's Starliner program."

NASA reduced Boeing's Commercial Crew contract from six to four missions, designating one flight uncrewed. The uncrewed Starliner-1 will perform in‑flight validation of upgrades made after the 2024 test flight that left Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore aboard the ISS when engineers judged the vehicle unsafe to return them. Starliner-1 will not launch before April 2026 and, if successful, the capsule could perform up to three crew rotations to the ISS, with managers hoping to fit one mission into next year. The original 2014 contract priced Boeing at $4.2 billion versus SpaceX at $2.6 billion. NASA retains options to add missions.

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