Boeing Starliner

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner is a spacecraft designed to transport crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. Under development by Boeing under NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), it consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module. Slightly larger than the Apollo command module or SpaceX Crew Dragon, but smaller than the Orion capsule, the Starliner can accommodate a crew of up to seven, though NASA plans to fly no more than four. It can remain docked to the ISS for up to seven months and is launched on an Atlas V N22 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a US$4.2 billion fixed-price contract to develop and operate Starliner, while SpaceX received $2.6 billion to develop and operate Crew Dragon. By February 2025, Boeing's effort had exceeded its budget by at least $2 billion. Originally planned to be operational in 2017, Starliner has been repeatedly delayed by problems in management and engineering. The first uncrewed Orbital Flight Test in December 2019 was deemed a partial failure, leading to a second Orbital Flight Test in May 2022, which was also subsequently declared a partial failure. In June 2024, during a Starliner Crew Flight Test, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned on approach to the ISS, and NASA concluded that it was too risky to return its astronauts to Earth aboard the spacecraft. Thereafter, in September 2024, the capsule was returned uncrewed. The mission's astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, eventually returned to Earth in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which resulted in the Starliner mission being declared as a Type A mishap.