StarlinerEdit
Starliner, formally the CST-100 Starliner capsule, is a crewed space vehicle designed and built by Boeing for NASA's Commercial Crew Program to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station (ISS). Developed as part of a broader shift toward private-sector delivery of routine space access, Starliner is intended to provide a domestic, competitive alternative to other launch systems and to reduce the government’s share of spaceflight risk and cost. The vehicle is designed to carry up to seven people, though most missions envision smaller crews, and it features autonomous rendezvous and docking capabilities, a system for Earth re-entry, and a land-based recovery plan using parachutes and an airbag cushion. The program has emphasized a streamlined, industrial approach to design, manufacture, and flight operations in order to maintain U.S. leadership in human spaceflight.
In the decades since the initial shuttle era, the United States has sought to restore and expand its own capability to launch astronauts from American soil. Starliner sits alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in NASA’s push to commercialize crew transport, with the aim of reducing the cost per seat, increasing mission cadence, and preserving U.S. independence in access to space. The capsule’s development has been closely watched by policymakers, industry, and the space community as a test case for how private firms and NASA can partner to achieve reliable spaceflight with rigorous safety standards. The Starliner program has been shaped by two high-profile uncrewed flights, known as OFT-1 in 2019 and OFT-2 in 2022, which tested software integrity, autonomous flight operations, and the vehicle’s return capability, laying groundwork for a future Crew Flight Test with astronauts aboard.
History
The CST-100 Starliner project emerged from NASA’s strategy to diversify access to space through commercial providers. Boeing began developing the system in the 2010s as part of a competitive bid process within the Commercial Crew Program, intended to complement and eventually supersede reliance on non-U.S. partners for crew transport. The capsule was designed to be launched atop an American-made launch vehicle, most often the Atlas V rocket, from facilities such as Cape Canaveral. The vehicle’s architecture comprises a crew module that houses astronauts and a service module that provides propulsion and attitude control during orbital flight. After a mission, the crew module re-enters the atmosphere and lands on dry land, cushioned by parachutes and an airbag-based landing system, while the service module is jettisoned.
The first major milestone, OFT-1 (Orbital Flight Test 1), took place in December 2019. It was an uncrewed test intended to validate the spacecraft’s core flight software, autonomous rendezvous capabilities, and safe landing procedures. Problems surfaced during OFT-1, including software anomalies that prevented the spacecraft from achieving its planned docking with the ISS and a premature return to Earth, where it landed safely at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico. NASA and Boeing conducted investigations, implemented software fixes, and refined the integration of Starliner with the launch vehicle and ground systems. The mission underscored the challenges of certifying a new crew vehicle and the importance of rigorous testing in the face of ambitious timelines.
The follow-on flight, OFT-2 (Orbital Flight Test 2), occurred in 2022 and was designed to demonstrate a full uncrewed mission profile, including an automated rendezvous and docking sequence with the ISS, followed by a landing back on Earth. The test reinforced the capsule’s capabilities in an operationally relevant environment and provided additional data for safety and certification processes. The success of OFT-2 helped pave the way for a crewed demonstration mission, or Crew Flight Test, though schedules for that flight have faced further delays due to software certification, safety reviews, and program prioritization decisions within the broader NASA portfolio.
As of the mid-2020s, Starliner remains a core element of NASA’s plan to guarantee national capability to transport crews to the ISS without depending on any single provider or foreign partners. The program is frequently cited in policy debates about the balance between public oversight and private-sector innovation, the reuse of hardware and launch infrastructure, and the overall cost-effectiveness of commercial spaceflight. The status of a crewed Starliner flight has been subject to shifts in policy, funding, and safety reviews, but the vehicle continues to be developed with an emphasis on meeting stringent NASA standards for crew safety and mission reliability.
Design and capabilities
The Starliner capsule is designed as a multi-mission, reliabile crew transport system. The spacecraft features a crew module capable of carrying a range of occupants and a service module that provides propulsion, avionics, and attitude control during orbital operations. The vehicle is intended to operate autonomously for most phases of a mission, including approach, rendezvous, and docking with the ISS when commanded, with the option for human oversight or manual override as needed. For re-entry and return, the crew module is equipped with a heat shield and a landing system that employs a parachute sequence to slow descent, followed by a cushion of airbags to mitigate touchdown forces on land, typically in designated desert test sites in the southwestern United States. The capsule is designed to be reusable with ground handling and refurbishment processes that support a rapid mission turnaround.
Starliner’s propulsion and avionics are integrated with the launch system used for deployment, most notably the Atlas V rocket in early flight tests. This launcher provides the power and trajectory control required to reach trans-ISS orbits and to execute automated rendezvous maneuvers. Inside the crew module, life-support, environmental control, and user interfaces are designed to meet NASA human-rating standards, with emphasis on reliability, redundancy, and fault tolerance. The vehicle’s docking mechanism is compatible with the ISS docking ports and a variety of international interfaces, reflecting a design choice to align with existing orbital infrastructure and to minimize additional port-building requirements for U.S. space operations. The Starliner program also incorporates a robust ground segment for mission control, telemetry, tracking, and data analysis, ensuring coordination across operations, safety, and maintenance.
Crew capacity is variable based on mission goals, but the design contemplates up to seven astronauts with a more typical crew in the four-to-five range for many research-oriented or commercial missions. The system’s modular concept and ground-support ecosystem are intended to support not only crewed transport but also crewed mission reuse, cargo cargo-carrying capabilities, and rapid mission turnover when permitted by NASA mission rules. The combination of autonomous flight capability, land-based landing recovery, and a scalable mission architecture is presented by supporters as a prudent path to steady, domestically produced access to space, reducing the financial and technical premiums that would accompany wholly government-run launch programs.
Operational history and status
Two major uncrewed test flights have established Starliner as a meaningful contributor to U.S. spaceflight. OFT-1 proved valuable in identifying software and systems integrations early in the program, even as it highlighted the risks inherent in new hardware. The outcome informed subsequent design fixes, mission planning improvements, and better-grounded risk management. The later OFT-2 mission demonstrated the capsule’s capability to perform automated rendezvous, approach, and return-to-Earth operations, contributing to NASA’s confidence in the platform as a candidate for crewed operations once safety and certification criteria were fully met. The status of a NASA-approved Crew Flight Test with a crew aboard Starliner has depended on continued software certification work, safety reviews, and the alignment of mission timelines with NASA’s broader human spaceflight program.
Proponents of the Starliner approach argue that private-sector participation helps hold down costs, accelerates development through competition, and preserves U.S. leadership in spaceflight. Critics often emphasize safety, cost-value trade-offs, and the risk of overreliance on a single contractor for critical national capabilities. In this context, the Starliner program is viewed as a proving ground for a business-model approach to high-stakes space missions: a test case for how well NASA can leverage private industry to deliver reliable, high-quality spaceflight while maintaining rigorous standards.
See also measurements of ongoing policy debates about privatized space access, the role of government oversight, and the balance between safety and speed in developing critical national capabilities.