Boeing's Starliner Returns to Flight Plans with NASA

NASA and Boeing have provided an update on the development of the Starliner spacecraft. The companies aim to certify a new rocket for crew transportation to low Earth orbit and conduct additional crew missions.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, 'We are living through the most exciting era of space exploration since Apollo.' He emphasized that NASA will continue to plan for flights to and from the International Space Station using Starliner, including a fifth and sixth flight.

The uncrewed Starliner-1 mission is set to validate improvements made to the spacecraft and gather necessary data. This will be followed by crewed missions, with astronauts returning on Starliner-2 by 2028. Boeing has made thermal modifications to the service module in response to issues identified during previous flights.

NASA's Program Investigation Team revealed that Starliner's service module reaction control thrusters were operating outside of their engineering parameters, leading to a loss of control experienced during its Crew Flight Test. The team is working closely with Boeing to address these issues and ensure the spacecraft's safe operation.