---
title: "NASA Keeps Delaying Its Decision on What to Do With Boeing’s Broken Starliner"
description: "Pushed Back During a media teleconference today, NASA's associate administrator for space operations Ken Bowersox preempted some tough questions, admitting that the agency had no major updates regarding Boeing's plagued Starliner, which is now rumored to be returned without a crew on board. Last week, NASA announced that it was now considering having its two […]"
date: "2024-08-14"
modified: "2024-08-14"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-delaying-decision-boeing-starliner"
categories:
  - "Boeing"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "boeing"
  - "crew dragon"
  - "NASA"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "starliner"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Keeps Delaying Its Decision on What to Do With Boeing’s Broken Starliner

![NASA is still struggling to come to a decision on what to do with Boeing's Starliner, which is currently stuck at the ISS.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/nasa-delaying-decision-boeing-starliner.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Pushed Back

During a [media teleconference](<https://youtu.be/EyKqaVLpsW4>) today, NASA associate administrator for space operations Ken Bowersox preempted some tough questions, admitting that the agency had no major updates regarding Boeing's [plagued Starliner](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/boeing-thruster-issue-stranded-astronauts>), which is now rumored to be [returned without a crew on board](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-forced-send-boeing-starliner-back-empty>).

Last week, NASA [announced](<https://futurism.com/stranded-astronauts-stuck-space-station-nasa>) that it was now considering having its two stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return on board SpaceX's upcoming Crew-9 mission [due to ongoing technical issues](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/boeing-furious-nasa-plan-return-astronauts-spacex>) with Starliner.

At the time, the agency [gave itself until "mid-August"](<https://futurism.com/nasa-stuff-extra-astronauts-spacex-starliner>) to make a decision.

Mid-August is here — and NASA continues to struggle with making a decision. Bowersox said that NASA is considering doing a Flight Readiness Review within the next two weeks, pushing back the date yet again.

"In this situation, we don’t have a sharp cutoff," Bowersox said during today's live stream. "We can juggle things and make things work."

## Stuck in Space

By the time SpaceX's Crew-9 mission makes its return in February, Wilmore and Williams [will have spent eight months in space](<https://futurism.com/nasa-stuff-extra-astronauts-spacex-starliner>) — on a test flight mission that should have taken just two weeks.

"It’s getting harder with the consumables we’re using, and the ports we’re using, those types of things," Bowersox admitted during today's call. "We're reaching a point where that last week in August, we really should be making a call."

But an eight-month stay at the space station still "falls within our standard long duration mission time frame," according to a statement given by NASA's chief astronaut Joe Acaba during today's teleconference.

To put it lightly, Boeing's first crewed test flight of its Starliner has been, at best, a fiasco. NASA is clearly playing it safe by buying itself more and more time. The agency and its contractor have poured billions of dollars into the spacecraft's development and likely will do everything in their might to make it work, despite [the risks involved](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-boeing-starliner-crash-iss-concern>).

When asked if this could be Boeing's last Starliner flight, Bowersox only had a vague answer.

"All I can say is that our intent is to keep pressing to have two providers," he said, referring to SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was developed under the same Commercial Crew program as Starliner. "We got very good companies and we wanna develop two strong and capable spacecraft."

**More on Starliner:** *[Boeing's Starliner Could Spin Out of Control and Crash Into the Space Station, Expert Warns](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-boeing-starliner-crash-iss-concern>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)