NASA planning next Boeing Starliner test flight after astronauts' return

Despite Boeing Starliner's last crewed mission extending from eight days to over nine months due to capsule issues, NASA is examining what future launches for the aerospace giant will look like.

During a press briefing after the successful splashdown of the SpaceX Dragon Freedom -- which carried Starliner crew members Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Butch Wilmore home from the International Space Station this week -- NASA officials said the agency is strategizing the next test flight for the Starliner.

Commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said the Starliner will first have a test flight without crews onboard before the vehicle is used again for crewed missions.

"What we'd like to do is that one flight and then get into a crew rotation flight," Stich said Wednesday.

"So, the next flight up would really test all the changes we're making to the vehicle, and then the next flight beyond that, we really need to get Boeing into a crew rotation. So, that's the strategy," he said.

In June 2024, Williams and Wilmore performed the first astronaut-crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule. What was expected to be a weeklong trip to the ISS instead turned into an over nine-month stay after the capsule suffered helium leaks and thruster failures.

Two months after docking at the ISS and several delays in the mission's return later, NASA announced that the Starliner would return back to Earth uncrewed and that Williams and Wilmore would come back in another vehicle.

This week saw the astronauts' over nine-month mission come to a close when they splashed down in the SpaceX capsule off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.

The next Starliner test flight would seek to confirm that the spacecraft's thrusters function properly after modifications were made to the vehicle's propulsion system, according to Stich.

"The thing that we need to solidify and go test is the prop system in the service module," he said. "We need to make sure we can eliminate the helium leaks, eliminate the service module thruster issues that we had on docking."

Despite the next mission being uncrewed, Stich said the Starliner needs to be fully crew-capable to test how it would react to docking at the ISS again.

"Even if we were to fly the vehicle without a crew in the return, we want that to be crew-capable," Stich said. "So, we want it to have all the systems in place that that we could fly a crew with."

If the mission is successful, NASA could certify the spacecraft to perform routine missions to and from the ISS. NASA has primarily been using SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to transport crew and cargo to the ISS.

The missions are part of the larger Commercial Crew Program at NASA, which uses American rockets and spacecraft to launch astronauts and cargo to the ISS with the hope of helping the federal space agency prepare for its upcoming moon and Mars missions.