NASA and Boeing plan to send the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station without a crew as early as December or January, before resuming astronaut flights with the Starliner-2 mission targeted for 2028. The move keeps Boeing’s commercial crew vehicle in the programme after prolonged technical setbacks and sets up a test flight intended to clear the way for a later crewed return to the ISS.
The uncrewed Starliner-1 mission will be used to validate spacecraft improvements, gather flight data and complete the remaining testing and certification work needed before astronauts fly again. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency’s current plan is to return astronauts on Starliner-2 by 2028, while Boeing and NASA will continue working through corrective actions identified after the 2024 crewed test flight.
NASA is also expected to support certification of the Vulcan rocket for future Starliner crew transport, as the Atlas V nears the end of its role in the programme. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg is expected to command Starliner-2, although the mission’s exact launch timing remains a target rather than a fixed date.