NASA and Boeing Revive Starliner Program After Troubled Past

NASA and Boeing have announced plans to move forward with the Starliner program, despite its troubled past. The program suffered a major setback in 2024 when two astronauts on board were forced to extend their mission from eight days to 286 days due to technical issues.

The spacecraft's service module had helium leaks, and five of its thrusters failed due to overheating. However, NASA officials expressed confidence in the redesigns that they and Boeing have identified in Starliner. Portions of both the crew module and service module have been redesigned and replaced.

NASA has already named Warren 'Woody' Hoburg, a Pennsylvania native who joined the astronaut program in 2017, as the commander of the crewed Starliner-2 mission. Hoburg previously piloted SpaceX's Crew-6 mission to the ISS.