Boeing Starliner

The Boeing Starliner (or CST-100) is a spacecraft designed to transport crew to and from the <a href="/facts/International_Space_Station/VNPUBz9m">International Space Station</a> (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. Developed by <a href="/facts/Boeing/tF5sMe9F">Boeing</a> under <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a>'s <a href="/facts/Commercial_Crew_Program/4ygmongy">Commercial Crew Program</a> (CCP), it consists of a <a href="/facts/Reusable_spacecraft/RKXsxAUj">reusable</a> crew <a href="/facts/Space_capsule/wd4mpTCX">capsule</a> and an expendable <a href="/facts/Service_module/79YA3cdQ">service module</a>.
Slightly larger than the <a href="/facts/Apollo_command_and_service_module/rfoTgzFx">Apollo command module</a> or <a href="/facts/SpaceX_Dragon_2/Wy8kUegK">SpaceX Crew Dragon</a>, but smaller than the <a href="/facts/Orion_(spacecraft)/nh8VQRpD">Orion capsule</a>, the Starliner can accommodate a crew of up to seven, though NASA plans to fly no more than four. It can remain docked to the ISS for up to seven months and is launched on an <a href="/facts/Atlas_V/5SNgegyt">Atlas V N22</a> rocket from <a href="/facts/Cape_Canaveral_Space_Launch_Complex_41/QBUVHdSb">Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41</a> in Florida.
In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a US$4.2 billion <a href="/facts/Fixed-price_contract/xIFkLVIg">fixed-price contract</a> to develop and operate Starliner, while SpaceX received $2.6 billion to develop and operate <a href="/facts/Crew_Dragon/Wy8kUegK">Crew Dragon</a>. By February 2025, Boeing's effort had exceeded its budget by at least $2 billion.
Originally planned to be operational in 2017, Starliner has been repeatedly delayed by problems in management and engineering. The first uncrewed <a href="/facts/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test/3YoYAAUW">Orbital Flight Test</a> in December 2019 was deemed a partial failure, leading to a <a href="/facts/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2/fWyELqrx">second Orbital Flight Test</a> in May 2022. During the <a href="/facts/Boeing_Crew_Flight_Test/rLpP4oLh">Crew Flight Test</a>, launched in June 2024, the Starliner's thrusters malfunctioned on approach to the ISS and NASA concluded that it was too risky to return its astronauts to Earth aboard the spacecraft, which landed uncrewed in September 2024.

Boeing Starliner open-in-new

Boeing Starliner