Report: Boeing Starliner future with NASA unclear
· UPIJuly 2 (UPI) -- NASA's Office of Inspector General has released a report warning that issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft remain unresolved despite the company's ongoing contract with the agency.
The office said in the report that it's uncertain when or if the company will be able to send more astronauts to the International Space Station.
"Boeing's and NASA's development efforts to certify the Starliner continue to face challenges that have delayed progress and increased both costs and risks to sustained crew transportation to the ISS through 2030," the report said.
NASA has contracts with Boeing and SpaceX, both private companies, to transport astronauts back and forth from the ISS through its Commercial Crew Program.
However, Boeing's Starliner has not flown since a crew flight test mission in June 2024, when the spacecraft experienced technical issues that led to astronauts being stranded on the space station for nine months and having to return to Earth on a SpaceX capsule.
The Starliner flew two uncrewed flights before the CFT, Space.com reported. No further flights, crewed or uncrewed, have been scheduled. The technical issues have included helium leaks, propulsion system failures and parachute anomalies.
SpaceX "ultimately worked through a variety of its own technical challenges" and has been providing steady crew transportation, the report said. The company's 13th crewed mission is planned for September.
The OIG report attributed the technical problems with Starliner to overconfidence on NASA's part, unrealistic schedules and NASA's lack of insight into the spacecraft, Space News reported.
"NASA was overconfident in Boeing's design and potential success based on the provider's use of heritage systems and its longstanding spaceflight experience," the report said.
It added that this overconfidence led an "unrealistic launch and test-flight schedule" and that NASA had no access to Starliner flight simulator data.
The report questioned when or if Starliner will be certified for crewed missions before 2030, when NASA plans to decommission the space station. Boeing is under contract for three crewed missions before this time.
The space agency contracts with SpaceX and Boeing amount to $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion respectively, the report said, and those contracts have increased in value to over $8 billion.