by If all goes well on late May 6, 2024, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will blast into space on Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Launching from the Kennedy Space Center, this final critical test for Starliner will test the new spacecraft and take the pair to the International Space Station for about a week.
Part of NASA’s commercial crew program, this long-delayed mission is the first crewed launch of the vehicle. If successful, it will give NASA – and future space tourists – more options for getting to low Earth orbit.
From my perspective as a space policy expert, the launch of Starliner marks another significant milestone in the development of the commercial space industry. But the mission’s troubled history shows how difficult the path to space can be, even for a company as experienced as Boeing.
Origin and development
After NASA’s space shuttle retired in 2011, NASA invited commercial space companies to help the agency transport cargo and crew to the International Space Station.
In 2014, NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX to build their respective crew vehicles: Starliner and Dragon.
Boeing’s Starliner vehicle was built to carry up to seven crew members to and from low Earth orbit. For NASA missions to the International Space Station, it will carry up to four at a time, and is designed to stay at the station for up to seven months. At 15 feet, the capsule in which the crew will sit is slightly larger than an Apollo or SpaceX Dragon command module.
Boeing designed Starliner to be reusable in part to reduce the cost of getting to space. While the Atlas V rocket that will take it to space and the service module that supports the craft are both expendable, the Starliner crew capsule can be reused up to 10 times, with a six-month turnaround. Boeing has built two airworthy Starliners to date.
The development of Starliner came with difficulties. While Boeing received US$4.2 billion from NASA, compared to $2.6 billion for SpaceX, Boeing spent more than an additional $1.5 billion on the development of the spacecraft.
On Starliner’s first uncrewed test flight in 2019, a series of software and hardware failures prevented it from reaching its intended orbit and docking with the International Space Station. After testing some of its systems, it landed successfully at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
In 2022, after identifying and making more than 80 solutions, Starliner made its second unmanned test flight. This time, the vehicle successfully docked with the International Space Station and landed six days later in New Mexico.
However, Boeing delayed the first crewed launch for Starliner from 2023 to 2024 due to additional problems. One involved the Starliner’s parachute, which helps slow the vehicle as it returns to Earth. Tests found that some connections in those parachute lines were weaker than expected, which could have caused them to break. Another problem was the use of flammable tape which could be a fire hazard.
A big question that arises from these delays is why Starliner was so difficult to develop. In one case, NASA officials acknowledged that it did not provide as much oversight to Starliner as it did to SpaceX’s Dragon because of the agency’s knowledge of Boeing.
And Boeing has had some problems lately, especially regarding the safety of its planes. Astronaut Butch Wilmore denied that Starliner’s problems reflect these troubles.
But many of Boeing’s other space activities outside of Starliner, including the Space Launch System, faced mechanical failures and budget pressures. This system is planned to be the main rocket for NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era.
Importance to NASA and commercial spaceflight
Given these difficulties, the success of Starliner will be important to Boeing’s future space efforts. Even if SpaceX’s Dragon can successfully transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, the agency needs a backup. And that’s where Starliner comes in.
After the Challenger explosion in 1986 and the Columbia shuttle accident in 2003, NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011. The agency had few options to get astronauts to and from space. NASA will not have to rely on a single company or vehicle for space launches as it has in the past when there is a second supplier of commercial crew vehicles.
Perhaps more importantly, if Starliner is successful, it could compete with SpaceX. While there is currently no strong demand for space tourism, and Boeing has no plans to market the Starliner for tourism anytime soon, competition is important in any market to drive down costs and increase innovation.
This is likely to lead to more competition. Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser plans to launch later this year to carry cargo for NASA to the International Space Station. A crewed version of the spaceplane is also being developed for the next round of NASA’s commercial crew program. Blue Origin is working with NASA in this latest round of commercial crew contracts and developing a lunar lander for the Artemis program.
While SpaceX made commercial spaceflight look relatively easy, Boeing’s rocky experience with Starliner shows how difficult spaceflight remains, even for an experienced company.
Starliner is important not only to NASA and Boeing, but to show that more than one company can find success in the commercial space industry. A successful launch would also give NASA more confidence in the industry’s ability to support operations in Earth orbit as the agency focuses on future missions to the Moon and beyond.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit, independent news organization that brings you reliable facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Wendy Whitman Cobb, Air University
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Wendy Whitman Cobb is affiliated with the United States Graduate School of Air and Space Studies. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense or any of her own.
