Różne artykuły o CST-100 Starliner

[Orionid]

Start towarowego  Starlinera-1 NET 04.2026.

NASA, Boeing pivot Starliner-1 mission from 4-person astronaut flight to cargo-only
November 24, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith


The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Image: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA and Boeing also agreed to reduce the number of flights NASA’s is obligated to buy from Boeing from six down to four “with the remaining two available as options.” And with the decision for Starliner-1 to be cargo only, that means NASA may only have three flights with Starliner that will carry its astronauts to the ISS.

If Starliner-1 is a nominal flight, it opens the door for Starliner-2 to become Boeing’s first operational mission to the space station with crew onboard.

“The next commercial flight to the International Space Station without a specific provider assigned is targeted no earlier than October 2026. This flight will handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which is targeted to launch in early 2026,” a NASA spokesperson said.

What about the astronauts?

The next crew of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is now somewhat of a mystery, at least from a public perspective. Scott Tingle, the NASA astronaut who was named Starliner-1 commander in September 2022 was named as the newest chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office this month.

When Tingle was announced, the agency also said astronaut Mike Fincke would be the Starliner-1 pilot. However, he and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, another astronaut assigned to Starliner-1, were both tasked to fly as members of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission, which is currently in progress.

Spaceflight Now reached out to the Canadian Space Agency to see learn more about the fate of its astronaut, Joshua Kutryk, who was assigned to fly the Starliner-1 mission as a mission specialist. We’re waiting to hear back.

Eric Berger, Ars Technica’s senior space reporter, reported last week that NASA astronaut Luke Delaney was also in line to train for the Starliner-1 mission at one point, but has been reassigned to the SpaceX Crew-13 mission. (...)

The only other active astronaut who has been publicly confirmed to have trained on the Starliner systems is CFT Pilot Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams. However, given that Starliner-2 would be her fourth mission after already accumulating more than 600 days in space, she may run up against radiation limits for NASA astronauts.

Below are the list of astronauts who have retired from active service who trained to fly on Starliner (either for CFT or Starliner-1):

Josh Cassada
Jeanette Epps
Chris Ferguson
Koichi Wakata (JAXA)
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore
https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/11/24/nasa-boeing-pivot-starliner-1-mission-from-4-person-astronaut-flight-to-cargo-only/

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/nasa-confirms-that-starliners-next-mission-will-be-cargo-only/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew/2025/11/24/nasa-boeing-modify-commercial-crew-contract/

[kanarkusmaximus]

Miejmy nadzieję, że ten lot towarowy sprosta wyzwaniu!

[perian]

Ale obniżyli wartość kontraktu?

[Orionid]

Ale obniżyli wartość kontraktu?

Mniej zadań to mniejsze finansowanie.

NASA, Boeing Modify Starliner Contract: Fewer Launches, Cargo Only on Starliner-1
By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 24, 2025 3:34 pm ET | Last Updated: November 24, 2025 3:34 pm ET

(...) NASA told SpacePolicyOnline.com today that “Boeing’s current contract value is $3.732 billion with a total potential value of $4.456 billion.”  As of February 2025, Boeing reported about $2 billion in losses due to Starliner since it must absorb the cost overruns. (...)
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-boeing-modify-starliner-contract-fewer-launches-cargo-only-on-starliner-1/


Starliner investigation identifies flawed NASA decision making
by Jeff Foust February 19, 2026


Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked to the International Space Station during the Crew Flight Test mission. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA has classified the flawed Starliner crewed test flight in 2024 as its most serious level of mishap, with the agency’s leadership citing shortfalls in how officials oversaw the program.

NASA released Feb. 19 an independent report into the Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, which suffered thruster failures during the spacecraft’s approach to the International Space Station. The incident led NASA to return the spacecraft uncrewed, with the two astronauts who launched on Starliner remaining on the ISS for more than eight months before coming home on a Crew Dragon.

The report recommended that NASA classify the incident as a “Type A” mishap, citing both the technical issues with the flight as well as organizational problems.

“Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at a press conference to discuss the report’s findings. “It’s decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”

That decision-making and leadership, he said, allowed a spacecraft with thruster problems that occurred on previous uncrewed test flights to launch again with astronauts on board. That included the second uncrewed flight, OFT-2 in 2022, that suffered several thruster failures.

“The investigations often stopped short of the proximate or the direct cause, treated it with a fix, or accepted the issue as an unexplained anomaly,” he said of reviews after OFT-2. “In some cases, the proximate cause diagnosis itself was incorrect due to insufficient rigor in following the data to its logical conclusion.”

There was also poor decision-making after the thruster failures on the CFT mission. The spacecraft was able to safely dock with the station but NASA then spent weeks studying the problem. “The astronauts did remain safely aboard the International Space Station while they were advocating for data, for more testing and for leadership engagement necessary to complete their mission safely,” Isaacman said.

“Now on orbit, disagreements over crew return options deteriorated into unprofessional conduct” among program officials, he said, describing “an environment where advocacy tied to the Starliner program viability persisted alongside insufficient senior NASA leadership engagement to refocus teams on safety and mission outcomes.”

That persisted after the safe return of the Starliner astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, with NASA’s initial decision not to declare the mission a mishap. “Concern for the Starliner program’s reputation influenced that decision,” Isaacman said. “The record is now being corrected. Today, we formally designate this event a Type A mishap to ensure lessons are fully captured for future missions.”

A Type A mishap requires an independent investigation, although the agency concluded that the investigation already commissioned served that purpose. Such a mishap is defined as one with a cost of more than $2 million. The losses of the shuttles Challenger and Columbia are defined as Type A mishaps, but Isaacman noted that a recent hard landing by a NASA WB-57 aircraft because of a landing gear failure, which did not injure the pilots on board, also is classified as a Type A mishap.

Lessons for Starliner and Artemis

Before the release of the report and the classification of the CFT mission as a Type A mishap, NASA had been working towards an uncrewed launch of Starliner to the ISS as soon as this April. If successful, a crewed mission would follow as soon as late this year. NASA officials confirmed those plans at a Feb. 9 briefing.

Isaacman indicated there are no immediate changes to those plans, although engineers have yet to reach a technical root cause for the thruster failures.

“Right now, our focus here at NASA is working alongside Boeing again to understand the technical challenges that have caused these service module and crew module thruster issues,” he said, then implement fixes and other recommendations from the report.

“Now, if that happens to line up in April, then so be it. And if we can follow that on with crewed missions, that’s fantastic as well,” he said. “But we are not going to fly again, crew or uncrewed, until it’s ready.”

He said there would be changes within NASA as well. “Programmatic advocacy exceeded reasonable bounds and placed the mission, the crew and America’s space program at risk in ways that were not fully understood at the time decisions were being contemplate,” he stated.

“This created a culture of mistrust that can never happen again, and there will be leadership accountability,” he added, but declined to specify if personnel would be fired or reassigned.

That “programmatic advocacy” was linked to concerns by some within the agency that the overall commercial crew program could only be successful if there were two providers. Isaacman said he still believed Starliner could operate and meet what he described as “near endless demand” for cargo and crew access to low Earth orbit that will continue even after the ISS is retired.

“We are committed to helping Boeing work through this problem, to remediate the technical challenges,” he said, noting that he had no indication Boeing would cancel Starliner. “I fully anticipate Boeing will be there.”

Boeing reiterated its commitment to Starliner in a brief statement. “In the 18 months since our test flight, Boeing has made substantial progress on corrective actions for technical challenges we encountered and driven significant cultural changes across the team that directly align with the findings in the report,” the company stated. “We’re working closely with NASA to ensure readiness for future Starliner missions and remain committed to NASA’s vision for two commercial crew providers.”

The briefing took place while NASA was performing a second wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission, whose Space Launch System has Boeing as the prime contractor. Isaacman said he was not concerned any technical or organizational problems with Starliner would affect SLS.

“These are two very different contracting approaches,” he said, noting SLS follows a more conventional approach with much greater NASA oversight and control than the commercial crew program, which uses a services contract.

“This is now the most important human spaceflight mission in more than a half-century,” he said of Artemis 2. He noted he has sent “second and third and fourth sets of eyes” to review mission preparations.

The timing of the release of the report with the Artemis 2 countdown test was a coincidence, he said, but is a valuable reminder.

“It is to make sure we are we are sending the right message within the workforce of NASA that we have to make the right decisions in this circumstance. Leadership has to be appropriately applied, because the situation we found ourselves in with Starliner with CFT could happen anywhere across the organization,” he said. “The approach we took is not compatible with human spaceflight, and we cannot permit it to continue.”
https://spacenews.com/starliner-investigation-identifies-flawed-nasa-decision-making/

NASA chief classifies Starliner flight as “Type A” mishap, says agency made mistakes
Eric Berger – 19 lut 2026 22:59

“The most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware.”

(...) As part of the announcement, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman sent an agency-wide letter that recognized the shortcomings of both Starliner’s developer, Boeing, as well as the space agency itself. Starliner flew under the auspices of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, in which the agency procures astronaut transportation services to the International Space Station.

“We are taking ownership of our shortcomings,” Isaacman said.

The letter and a subsequent news conference on Thursday afternoon were remarkable for the amount of accountability taken by NASA. Moreover, at Isaacman’s direction, the space agency released an internal report, comprising 311 pages, that details findings from the Program Investigation Team that looked into the Starliner flight. (...)
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/nasa-chief-classifies-starliner-flight-as-type-a-mishap-says-agency-made-mistakes/

[Orionid]

W obecnej sytuacji formowanie załóg dla Starlinera wiąże się z ryzykiem nie odbycia lotu tym pojazdem.

Space Shuttle Almanac @ShuttleAlmanac 4:49 AM · Jul 2, 2026
NASA just released its Starliner OIG report today... the planning schedule within this document has already been delayed by a minimum further 6 months. They wont launch any Starliners this year.

https://x.com/ShuttleAlmanac/status/2072512952574656916

Report links Starliner problems to overconfidence and unrealistic schedules
by Jeff Foust July 1, 2026


Boeing's Starliner undocks from the International Space Station at the conclusion of the Crew Flight Test mission. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — A new report links the long-running technical problems with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle to a combination of overconfidence, unrealistic schedules and NASA’s lack of insight into the vehicle.

The report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General, released June 30, adds to the uncertainty about when Starliner will be approved for crewed missions to the International Space Station despite optimism from Boeing’s chief executive.

Starliner has not flown since its Crew Flight Test, or CFT, mission two years ago, which suffered thruster malfunctions and other issues that led NASA to return the spacecraft to Earth uncrewed. The NASA astronauts who flew on Starliner to the ISS remained there until March 2025, returning on a Crew Dragon.

The OIG report said the problems with that mission, as well as two previous uncrewed test flights, had three underlying causes.

“NASA was overconfident in Boeing’s design and potential success based on the provider’s use of heritage systems and its long-standing spaceflight experience,” the report stated, noting that NASA allowed Boeing to skip integrated testing of those systems.

“Second, this overconfidence led to Boeing establishing, and NASA accepting, an unrealistic launch and flight-test schedule,” the report said. NASA’s commercial crew program “consistently operated as if Starliner’s CFT mission was only 6 months away” starting in May 2021, although the mission did not ultimately launch until June 2024. Those schedules, the report argued, affected work on vehicle systems and testing.

OIG said the third factor was that NASA lacked access to Starliner flight simulator data. Access to the data was limited by the contract between NASA and Boeing, but OIG said NASA did not take advantage of the data that was available before the CFT mission, including simulation runs that resulted in the loss of vehicle or crew.

“The CFT crew noted this was unlike the shuttle era, when simulation failures resulted in full and open investigations, with reporting to its crews,” the report stated.

Exacerbating those issues is a lack of personnel. The report said that the commercial crew program office lost 21% of its personnel to attrition and reorganizations as of April 2025, and the office was uncertain whether it would be able to continue to access staff in other parts of the agency that it had relied on to help review the safety of vehicles.

OIG noted NASA has taken action to address those issues but criticized the agency for waiting until February, more than a year and a half after the launch of CFT, to formally classify it as a “Type A” mishap. That came only after an independent review recommended that designation, citing technical and organizational problems.

“In our judgment, the 21-month delay in failing to classify the CFT mission as a Type A mishap continues to delay resolution of Starliner issues that have persisted across three flight tests since 2019, further compounding costly delays in obtaining certification and limiting NASA’s options for crew transportation,” the report stated.

Uncertainty versus optimism

The report highlights the uncertainty about when Starliner will fly again and when, or even if, it will be certified for ISS crew rotation missions, given the pending retirement of the ISS in 2030.

“In the near term, given the continued challenges, we have concerns that all three of Boeing’s authorized flights will not be flown by 2030 when NASA plans to decommission the station,” the report stated, referring to the three crewed Starliner flights Boeing is under contract to perform.

Those will come after Starliner-1, originally planned as a crewed flight but converted into a cargo-only mission last year. That mission has not been scheduled, and NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said at a June 22 meeting that Starliner-1 would fly “in the next year or so” without offering a more specific timetable.

That uncertainty contrasts with the optimism Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg offered about Starliner in an interview with Aviation Week published June 25.

“We’ve made most of the corrective actions that came out of the prior flight test,” he said. “It is still our plan to have additional launches. NASA is working through that schedule. It looks like there might be one launch this year instead of two.”

Early this year, NASA officials left open the possibility of a crewed Starliner mission late this year. That assumed Starliner-1 would make its uncrewed flight as soon as April, allowing the vehicle to be certified for crew in the summer. The release of the independent report in February made it clear that schedule would not hold.

“While NASA officials have noted fall 2026 as the likely time frame for Starliner’s certification, we found this to be unrealistic given the current delays for the Starliner-1 launch and lack of clarity on the progress this uncrewed cargo flight will accomplish on Starliner’s certification plan,” the OIG report stated, concluding certification would likely slip to 2027.

“We think we’ve got a good handle on the thruster problems and corrective actions to fix them,” Ortberg said in the interview, noting he felt more confident about the future of Starliner than a year ago. “We’ve been through exhaustive testing. So I’m more confident that we’ve got our arms around what needs to be done to have a successful program.”

Both the OIG report and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel stated that some of the most serious problems from the CFT mission, such as thruster failures and heating of the “doghouses” on the Starliner service module that house the thrusters, had not been resolved.

“A Starliner-1 launch date is not currently scheduled, as NASA continues to evaluate launch opportunities,” the OIG report stated. “However, test results and analysis related to helium leaks and propulsion systems failures have not yet been completed as of March 2026, and NASA is uncertain as to when this testing will be completed or human-rating certification for the Starliner will be obtained.”
https://spacenews.com/report-links-starliner-problems-to-overconfidence-and-unrealistic-schedules/