NASA Gives Boeing's Starliner Spacecraft New Life After SpaceX Retirement

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has been given a new lease on life by NASA, which plans to use it for missions to the International Space Station (ISS) after SpaceX retires its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2030. The decision comes despite Boeing's previous failures with Starliner, including a stuck valve that stranded astronauts on the ISS for months.

NASA will pay Boeing $359 million extra to help fix the issues with Starliner, which is expected to undergo an uncrewed test flight in December 2026 or January 2027. If successful, Starliner will make its first crewed flight to the ISS in mid-2028.

This development could be a turning point for Boeing's commercial space program, which has been struggling since the failure of Starliner's maiden voyage in 2019. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as they concentrate on their next-generation capability, Starship.

Boeing will receive $5.5 billion for its work on Starliner, which is still under development despite being plagued by issues. The company's Commercial Crew program manager John Mulholland said he was 'incredibly excited' about the prospect of using Starliner in the future.