NASA and Boeing Revive Starliner Launch Plans with Uncrewed Flight

After two years of setbacks and delays, NASA and Boeing are moving forward with a new launch plan for their Starliner spacecraft. The mission, dubbed Starliner-1, is expected to take place between December and January this year and will be an uncrewed flight. This comes after NASA's Office of Inspector General released a scathing report in June criticizing the program's oversight of Boeing's Starliner.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman expressed confidence in the redesigns made to the spacecraft, including new thrusters and other modifications. 'When we get something wrong, we have to investigate how it occurred and be open and transparent about the findings, so we can learn from them, so we can fix the problems, and, again, move forward,' Isaacman said.

The Starliner-1 mission is a crucial step towards returning crewed flights to the International Space Station. Boeing's contract with NASA was reduced last fall from $4.1 billion to $3.7 billion after the agency cut back its contracted flights from six to four. However, it's possible that NASA could return to its original plan for six Starliner flights.

NASA has already named Warren 'Woody' Hoburg as the commander of the crewed Starliner-2 mission, which is expected to take place in 2028. Hoburg previously piloted SpaceX's Crew-6 mission to the ISS and expressed confidence in the program's progress.