Starliner Saga may not be over yet. Despite the failed test flight, which put a crew member in space, NASA has not given up Boeing's bad luck spacecraft. Starliner may have another chance to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
In a briefing Wednesday, NASA officials revealed they are considering another test flight of Boeing's Starliner space shuttle before proofing the vehicle on a conventional crew rotation mission. According to SpaceNews, “What we want to do is that flight and then go into the crew rotation flight.” “So the next flight will really test all the changes we have to the vehicle and then outside of the next fight outside of this, we really need to bring Boeing into the crew rotation. So that's the strategy.”
Boeing's Starliner was launched on June 5 to the International Space Station, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams for the first test flight of the spacecraft. However, the situation did not go smoothly, as the spacecraft's five thrusters failed on their way to the International Space Station, and Starliner became empty after NASA deemed unsuitable to bring the crew back to Earth. The Space Agency has proposed a beautiful plan to return astronauts from space by taking a SpaceX Dragon Crew vehicle.
The upcoming Starliner test flight will verify that the spacecraft's thruster is operating properly in space after modifying its failed propulsion system. Boeing is planning to conduct ground testing of the propulsion system this summer to review the company's restoration procedures. The subsequent flight to the ISS will demonstrate the spacecraft's ability to operate in space environments that are difficult to replicate on Earth, Stich said in a briefing. Once the changes have been verified, NASA hopes to include the Starliner spacecraft in its crew mission plan – currently dominating (although “monopoly” may be a better word) – by SpaceX and its crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX contracts in 2014 as part of the Space Agency's commercial agency program to develop spacecraft capable of delivering crew and cargo to the ISS. So far, Boeing has not reached the end of its $4.3 billion commercial crew program contract with NASA, while competing SpaceX has sent 10 crew members to ISS and ISS.
Starliner's crew test flight should have been the last time it's certified to ship crew regularly with SpaceX. However, the explosion's flight prompted NASA to postpone Boeing's CST-100 Starliner's next chance to fly to the ISS. The space agency hopes Starliner will launch its first crew mission by early 2025. Obviously, this didn't happen. Instead, NASA launched the Crew-10 Mission on March 12 using its more reliable business partner SpaceX. SpaceX's Dragon is also used to retrieve two Starliner astronauts from ISS.
Despite Starliner's disastrous crew flights, NASA is still willing to give its business partners another opportunity to take astronauts to and from ISS so that it can use two private vehicles as an option, not just one option, and avoids its full reliance on SpaceX as its journey.
