NASA Is Investigating Boeing Starliner's "In-Flight Anomalies"

NASA and Boeing are still working to get the aerospace giant's plagued Starliner spacecraft back off the ground.

It's been just over half a year since Boeing's issues-riddled shuttle came back from its journey to the International Space Station. Due to technical problems, NASA decided Starliner wasn't safe enough for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to be on board, leaving them stranded in orbit.

In a Thursday update, NASA revealed that NASA and Boeing are "making progress toward crew certification of the company’s CST-100 Starliner," with teams "working to resolve Starliner’s in-flight anomalies and preparing for propulsion system testing in the months ahead."

But when — or if — Starliner will make its next launch attempt, with or without a crew on board, remains to be seen.

"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 NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich in the update. "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," Stich added.

As part of its Commercial Crew program, NASA tapped both Boeing and SpaceX to come up with entirely separate spacecraft that can launch astronauts to the space station and back.

Over the last five years, SpaceX has run circles around its competition with its Crew Dragon spacecraft, and has completed a dozen successful trips to the ISS.

Despite pouring billions of dollars into the development of Starliner, Boeing has far less to show, including a failed launch attempt in 2019 and a litany of issues during its first crewed attempt last year.

According to NASA, teams are working hard to test Starliner's offending thrusters and the surrounding "doghouse," the part of the module where the thrusters are located. Investigations revealed that the doghouse overheated during repeated thruster firings, causing Teflon seals to bulge, thereby affecting the flow of propellant.

The space agency is now looking at "thermal protection system upgrades," including "barriers within the doghouse to better regulate temperatures and changing the thruster pulse profiles in flight to prevent overheating."

But whether these changes will be enough to reassure all stakeholders is an open question. Boeing has already lost over $2 billion on the project since it began, and still doesn't have a single successful mission under its belt.

That, however, hasn't dissuaded the aerospace giant.

"Boeing, all the way up to their new CEO, Kelly [Ortberg], has been committed to Starliner," Stich said during a briefing last week, as quoted by SpaceNews. "I see a commitment from Boeing to continue the program."

More on Starliner: NASA Planning Another Test Flight by Boeing's Starliner