NASA plans two more Boeing Starliner flights and an uncrewed test of the capsule's thruster fixes

Starliner-1 is an experiment built around one variable. NASA describes it as an engineering evaluation mission to verify improved thermal environments, obtain performance data for system qualification and identify residual risk ahead of crewed missions ^[7]. The variable is heat. Ground testing and analysis traced the thruster trouble to a combination of factors, including the thermal environment and features of the design ^[8], and the flight is where NASA will evaluate Boeing's thermal changes to the service module ^[10].

Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program, said NASA "will test Starliner's propulsion system through targeted demonstration objectives and disciplined operational controls" ^[13]. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman described the order of work. "We are starting with an uncrewed Starliner-1 mission to the International Space Station to validate the improvements made to the spacecraft and gather the flight data we need," he said ^[6].

I think that sequence is sound for the question it asks: fly the thermal change without people, then finish the valve work afterwards ^[11]. The thing this doesn't tell you is how the crewed vehicle will behave. After the flight, NASA and Boeing will complete a valve modification aimed at poppet seal extrusion, a seal problem NASA says harms thruster performance ^[11]. The same post-flight list includes new crew module thrusters, new batteries and minor parachute changes ^[12]. Isaacman said NASA would then "complete the testing and certification required for crewed flight" ^[22], so evidence for those later changes has to come from that work. The release does not say which rocket will launch Starliner-1. Vulcan certification applies after the Atlas V's final flight ^[2], and the Atlas V is no longer in production, according to Scientific American ^[3].

The 2024 flight is the baseline. After a helium leak and malfunctioning thrusters, NASA decided Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could not return aboard the capsule ^[14]. Their stay ran about 36 times its planned length ^[1]. If Starliner-2 carries crew by 2028, up to four years will separate crewed Starliner flights ^[2]. Scientific American reports that Woody Hoburg, the NASA astronaut on Monday's briefing panel ^[21], would command that mission ^[19].

Isaacman put the case for keeping Starliner in terms of redundancy. "NASA has been committed to having multiple crew transportation options since the beginning of the Commercial Crew Program," he said ^[18]. Crew Dragon is currently the only operational capsule that can carry NASA astronauts, and SpaceX has been open about wanting to retire it and the Falcon 9 in favor of Starship, Scientific American reported ^[17].

The two accounts of what went wrong in 2024 differ in emphasis. NASA's release describes programmatic and technical issues and 61 recommendations to the agency ^[9]. Scientific American reports that the February report named lax NASA oversight of Boeing, a lack of data transparency with vital personnel and poor decision making as the biggest cause ^[16]. A test flight returns thermal and thruster data. Whether oversight has changed will have to be shown another way; Isaacman said NASA will keep implementing the investigation team's corrective actions ^[22].