NASA says 2024 Boeing Starliner astronauts stranded due to multiple failures
NASA leadership on Thursday described how the trouble-plagued 2024 Boeing Starliner mission jeopardized astronaut welfare and the space agency’s culture of safety and accountability.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft approaches the International Space Station during the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 mission on May 20, 2022.
NASA’s own decision-making and leadership were partly to blame for the situation that left two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stranded for months on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. The report was released on Thursday The space agency summarizes what went wrong before, during and after the failed crewed mission to test the readiness of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the ISS.
“Starliner has design and engineering shortcomings that must be fixed, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not the hardware,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at a news conference Thursday. “This is decision-making ability and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”
NASA designated this incident a “Type A accident” – the same classification applied to contender And Colombia Space shuttle disasters, resulting in the combined deaths of 14 astronauts.
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism Subscribing By purchasing a subscription, you are helping ensure a future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Starliner was conceived in 2010 as a means of carrying people and cargo to low-Earth orbit under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Its first and second uncrewed orbital tests in 2019 and 2022, each revealed unexpected performance shortfalls with Starliner’s thrusters.
Nevertheless, despite these thruster issues and other technical problems, NASA went ahead with a crewed test flight, launching Wilmore and Williams on June 5, 2024. The mission’s Starliner spacecraft was named calypso, It was to stay at the ISS for a stay of eight to 14 days before returning to Earth. But calypsoThe thrusters malfunctioned during docking, and the spacecraft temporarily lost the ability to fully control its speed and position in space – a moment that, according to Isaacman and other sources, could have easily ended in disaster. Wilmore and Williams eventually returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in March 2025.
Isaacman stressed during the press conference that NASA would continue to work with Boeing to resolve Starliner’s problems. But he also took pains to explain how miscommunication and lax NASA oversight of Boeing, a longtime private contractor for the agency, may have contributed to Starliner’s life-threatening failures.
Isaacman said, “We accepted the vehicle; we launched the crew into space. We made decisions from docking through postmission operations. A great deal of responsibility and accountability lies here.”
The report described how, during the incident, mission personnel on the ground had felt overwhelmed by frequent meetings and expressed concerns over data transparency and inclusion, with personnel outside Boeing and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program feeling particularly excluded. According to the report, some of those personnel said astronaut safety was not as central as it could have been.
At the same Thursday press conference, Isaacman said that the focus on proving Starliner’s fitness for flight among some in NASA’s leadership “led to a breakdown in culture, created trust issues. And where leadership failed was failing to recognize that it was happening and to intervene and correct it.”
It’s time to stand up for science
If you enjoyed this article, I would like to ask for your support. scientific American He has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most important moment in that two-century history.
i have been one scientific American I’ve been a member since I was 12, and it’s helped shape the way I see the world. Science Always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does the same for you.
if you agree scientific AmericanYou help ensure that our coverage focuses on meaningful research and discovery; We have the resources to report on decisions that put laboratories across America at risk; And that we support both emerging and working scientists at a time when the value of science is too often recognised.
In return, you get the news you need, Captivating podcasts, great infographics, Don’t miss the newsletter, be sure to watch the video, Challenging games, and the best writing and reporting from the world of science. you can even Gift a membership to someone.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you will support us in that mission.
