Boeing’s Starliner set for uncrewed test flight in December

This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. (NewsNation) — NASA is planning an uncrewed test flight of Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule for the end of the year, pushing ahead with the project after a failed crewed test flight. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced Monday that NASA would be putting extra money and support behind the project after its “Type A mishap,” a designation used for the most severe problems. An improved Starliner is set to launch no earlier than December, carrying cargo on an uncrewed mission to the International Space Station. Astronauts are not expected to fly on the capsule until 2028, with safety redesigns expected to take months or years to complete. Astronaut Woody Hoburg is set to command the mission, though NASA has not released information on his crewmates. Starliner’s first crewed mission fell apart after astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams found their eight-to-10-day ISS stay extended to nine months. After experiencing issues with helium leaks and the failure of five reaction control system thrusters, Starliner made it safely to the ISS with its crew. However, NASA deemed the capsule unsafe to ferry its crew back home, eventually jettisoning Starliner for an unpiloted trip back to Earth and developing an alternate plan to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth. The two astronauts eventually made their way home on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, leaving Starliner grounded while NASA and Boeing attempted to determine what went wrong. Planned repairs to Starliner include replacing seals to prevent helium leaks and developing a process to prevent corrosion on the RCS thrusters that caused some of them to fail. NASA’s goal was to have two U. S.-based ways to transport astronauts to and from the ISS, but Starliner’s woes made the agency reliant on SpaceX, which the company is set to phase out by 2030. The ISS itself is currently set to be abandoned by 2031, though private U. S. companies are working on orbital stations that would need reliable transport for occupants. Fixing Starliner will cost NASA $359 million, but would give the agency a new crew vehicle option as SpaceX pivots to Starship, which is too large for traditional docking stations, and shifts focus to Mars travel as a primary goal. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.