Earlier this year, NASA officials seemed optimistic that Starliner would get to fly again by April. Obviously that did not happen. Now, the space agency has extended its ambitious timeline by at least another year as Boeing continues to try to fix its wonky spacecraft. During a meeting on Monday, members of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said that the agency and Boeing are still committed to Starliner’s return to flight, but there was no target timeline for the launch of an uncrewed mission, Spaceflight Now reports. “NASA and Boeing continue working toward the goal of Starliner’s crewed certification, which includes defining what is needed and acceptable for the next uncrewed mission to reduce risk and confirm readiness for crew missions,” Kent Rominger, former NASA astronaut and member of the panel, said during the meeting.
Still not happening Starliner’s first crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) went terribly wrong. Five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during its rendezvous with the ISS, forcing NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams to perform manual piloting. Starliner also developed five helium leaks, one of which had been identified prior to its launch.
