NASA has announced that when Boeing’s Starliner heads to the International Space Station in April 2026, it will be rated for cargo only. It will carry much-needed supplies to the ISS, but crucially, not crew. This follows the last Starliner mission, which experienced a thruster issue and was unable to return its two-person crew safely to Earth, prompting an extended stay on the station—and a dramatic return aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a contract to develop the Starliner crew transport vehicle, with a fixed price of $4.2 billion to cover development and six flights to the station. After years of delays and failed launch attempts, Starliner completed a cargo mission in 2022. Then came its first crewed test mission in 2024, which ultimately ended with stranded astronauts and a spacecraft that was largely unusable.
Starliner is already more than $2 billion over budget, too.
Artist rendition of Starliner docking with the ISS.
Credit: NASA
“NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said Monday (via Space.com) “This modification allows NASA and Boeing to focus on safely certifying the system in 2026, execute Starliner’s first crew rotation when ready, and align our ongoing flight planning for future Starliner missions based on station’s operational needs through 2030.”
Despite the confident tone, though, NASA wants Boeing to prove itself before it will trust Starliner with astronauts’ lives again. Next year’s Starliner-1 mission will carry only cargo and supplies and will let NASA and Boeing validate the craft’s reliability-focused upgrades. If the mission goes well, future manned launches may be possible, though NASA has made it clear that, of the six contracted crewed missions, it is only guaranteeing four, with the final two said to be optional.
This Starliner-1 mission is named as such because it was supposed to be the first official crewed flight of Starliner, following the Boeing Crew Flight Test (BCFT) launch with the two NASA astronauts in 2024.