The first flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft with astronauts on board has been delayed until April 2024 due to technical problems and the need for additional preparation time.
The first manned test flight of Starliner has been delayed another month, until early April 2024, NASA officials said in an October 12 announcement. The reason for the change was not given. The target date for the first operational flight of Boeing spacecraft has also been delayed to early 2025 from summer 2024.
NASA and Boeing previously said they were eyeing early March 2024 as the date for Starliner’s debut with astronauts, the Crew Flight Test (CFT). However, this was a projected ship readiness date, not an official launch date. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will take part in the CFT, en route to and from the ISS.
The mission faced several delays due to various technical problems, delaying its launch on multiple occasions. The CFT was supposed to take place last July, but the plan was canceled after problems were discovered with the Starliner’s wiring and parachute system.
The first crewed flight of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft has been postponed until April 2024
NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to send astronauts to the ISS, awarding multibillion-dollar contracts to each company. SpaceX’s seventh operational flight to the ISS took place on August 25, while Starliner has launched only twice, never with people on board.
Starliner experienced several problems during its first mission, the Orbital Flight Test (OFT), shortly after launch in December 2019 and did not reach the ISS as planned. The second mission, OFT-2, successfully reached the ISS in May 2022 and returned to Earth.
NASA’s press release also confirmed the target launch date for SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission as mid-February 2024. Four members of the Crew-8 crew have already been named: NASA astronauts Matthew Dominic (commander), Michael Barrett (pilot), and Jeanette Epps, as well as cosmonaut-researcher Alexander Grebenkin. SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission is scheduled for August 2024, just before Crew-8 returns to Earth.
A tenth “crew changeover mission” is planned for early 2025, which could be either SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission or Starliner-1, Boeing’s first operational manned flight to the ISS.
Boeing and NASA were eyeing the summer of 2024 for the Starliner 1 mission. However, this target date was pushed back to allow time to evaluate the results of the CFT.
