Boeing Starliner Crewed Launch Pushed Back to Mid-April 2024
NASA and Boeing delay the first crewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft to mid-April 2024, while also pushing the first operational mission to early 2025. The mission continues to face ongoing technical challenges that prevent an earlier launch.
NASA officials announce that the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft experiences another delay, moving the target launch date to no earlier than mid-April 2024. The space agency does not provide a specific reason for this schedule change. This mission, known as the Crew Flight Test, aims to transport NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station.
The schedule shift also impacts Starliner's first operational flight, which NASA pushes back from summer 2024 to early 2025. Previously, the team anticipates a readiness date of early March 2024 for the crewed test, but that timeline no longer holds. These continual postponements highlight the ongoing challenges Boeing faces in getting its crew capsule fully ready for regular astronaut missions.
Technical problems cause repeated setbacks for the Starliner program over the past several months. Most recently, teams scrub a planned July 2023 launch after discovering issues with the spacecraft's wiring and parachute system. Meanwhile, competitor SpaceX successfully launches its seventh operational crew flight to the orbiting laboratory in August, leaving Boeing further behind in the commercial space race.