NASA and Boeing Advance Starliner Spacecraft Development

NASA and Boeing are making progress on the Starliner spacecraft, with plans to add additional crew missions and certify a new rocket for low Earth orbit.

The agency intends to exercise options for a fifth and sixth flight to and from the International Space Station using Starliner, and will work with Boeing and United Launch Alliance to certify the Vulcan rocket after the Atlas V rocket's final flight.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated, 'We are living through the most exciting era of space exploration since Apollo. ... As this domain continues to open, there will be growing demand for launch vehicles, transfer stages, landers, and, of course, spacecraft that carry astronauts.'

The Starliner-1 mission is set to fly in December 2026 or January 2027 as an engineering evaluation mission to verify improved thermal environments.