• Good progress on closing out in flight anomalies and observations (~75% closed on all items). • Working through the helium leak and thrust degradation issues. • Helium seal replacement candidates are in test. • Modelling performance of the doghouses, planning to test one at White Sands later this year and hot fire in a vacuum chamber. • Modifications planned for the thermal blanket and preventing the OMAC plume getting back into the doghouses. • Launch schedule will depend on test results, aiming for certification by end of 2025. • Possible hint that it could be a cargo mission by referring to it as "crew capable". • ISS Fall manifest is pretty busy, CRS-33 has a critical payload to reboost the station.
Boeing Starliner Return To Flight Uncertain For 2025Robert Wall March 10, 2025The Boeing CST-100 Starliner may not return to flight this year as the company and NASA work to address the myriad issues exposed during last year's troubled crew flight test (CFT) and a busy launch period for the agency.
For context, it was Steve Stich who gave the Starliner update at the Crew-10 press conference.(FWIW when he said the next Starliner mission will be “crew capable” I interpreted it as they are proceeding as if it will be crewed but no decision yet made.)
On the phone Marcia Dunn (AP) asks several questions, including about decision on vehicle for crew 12. Stich: Looking at options for flying Starliner uncrewed. "We have a little time to make that decision."Next question also re: Starliner.Boeing all the way up to new CEO Kelly are committed to Starliner. They realize they have an important vehicle. Changes needed for thrusters.Bloomberg reporter: who would pay for an uncrewed Starliner; would it then require another CFT?Stich: we need another crew capable vehicle. Trying to do it under what we call the post-certification phase of the contract.Stich on Boeing: we need one flight before a regular crew rotation flight.Sawyer for NSF: with last East coast splashdown, what happens to Megan and what's the contingency for bad Pacific weather.Walker: Don't know what will happen with Megan. More stable weather in Pacific but cloud cover difference make airborne recovery support more challenging. Maintaining viable number of splashdown/recovery days.
NASA and Boeing are making progress toward crew certification of the company’s CST-100 Starliner system following the Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Joint teams are working to resolve Starliner’s in-flight anomalies and preparing for propulsion system testing in the months ahead as NASA plans for Starliner’s next flight.“NASA’s strategy for crew transportation is critical for assured access to space using American private industry,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our investment in commercial crew transportation capabilities is providing the needed flexibility to operate in space as safely as possible and respond to changes quickly when they arise. NASA is seeing the commitment from Boeing to adding the Starliner system to the nation’s crew transportation base.”In the months following the safe return of the uncrewed Starliner capsule from the International Space Station, NASA and Boeing have worked on postflight data analysis from its crewed flight test. There has been a significant amount of work completed, with more than 70% of flight observations and in-flight anomalies being closed at program-level control boards. The major in-flight propulsion system anomalies Starliner experienced in orbit are expected to remain open further into 2025, pending the outcome of various ground test campaigns and potential system upgrades.NASA and Boeing are working to finalize the scope and timelines for various propulsion system test campaigns and analysis that is targeted throughout the spring and summer. Testing at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico will include integrated firing of key Starliner thrusters within a single service module doghouse to validate detailed thermal models and inform potential propulsion and spacecraft thermal protection system upgrades, as well as operational solutions for future flights. These solutions include adding thermal barriers within the doghouse to better regulate temperatures and changing the thruster pulse profiles in flight to prevent overheating. Meanwhile, teams are continuing testing of new helium system seal options to mitigate the risk of future leaks.“Once we get through these planned test campaigns, we will have a better idea of when we can go fly the next Boeing flight,” said Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “We’ll continue to work through certification toward the end of this year and then go figure out where Starliner fits best in the schedule for the International Space Station and its crew and cargo missions. It is likely to be in the timeframe of late this calendar year or early next year for the next Starliner flight.”Mission managers are planning for the next Starliner flight to be a crew capable post-certification mission, and NASA also has the capability of flying only cargo depending on the needs of the agency.The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is the development of two dissimilar human spaceflight systems to ensure crew safety and to meet the International Space Station’s need for continuous human presence aboard the space station.
Commercial CrewThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration has contracted us to design and build the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to transport crews to the International Space Station (ISS). During 2024, we increased the reach-forward loss by $523. We are continuing to work toward crew certification and resolve the propulsion system anomalies. At March 31, 2025, we had approximately $401 of capitalized precontract costs and $147 of potential termination liabilities to suppliers related to unauthorized future missions. Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods.
