Boeing's Starliner Gets New Lease on Life as NASA Awards $359M Contract

NASA has awarded Boeing a new contract worth $359 million to help fix problems with its Starliner spacecraft. The move comes as SpaceX plans to retire its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft after 2030, and NASA will rely on Boeing's Starliner to reach the International Space Station (ISS) when that happens.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the decision in a press conference, stating that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as it concentrates on its next-generation capability, Starship. This means that Boeing's Starliner has an important role to play in filling the gap created by SpaceX.

The contract includes five more flights for Starliner, with the first one being uncrewed and expected to take place either in December 2026 or January 2027. After a 18-month pause, there will be a crewed flight to the ISS in mid-2028. If successful, many more flights may follow, both to the ISS and later to private space stations.

NASA has already paid Boeing $5.1 billion on a fixed-price contract for Starliner, which hasn't performed successfully even once. To incentivize Boeing to remain in this space race, NASA will pay an additional $359 million to help remodel Starliner to address its identified problems.