Starliner

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner is a class of two partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing for its participation in NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The spacecraft consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module.

The capsule has a diameter of 4.56 m (15.0 ft), which is slightly larger than the Apollo command module and SpaceX Dragon 2, and smaller than the Orion capsule. The Boeing Starliner holds a crew of up to seven people and is designed to be able to remain docked on ISS for up to seven months with the reusability of up to ten missions. Starliner launches atop the Atlas V launch vehicle.

After several rounds of competitive development contracts within the Commercial Crew Program starting in 2010, NASA selected the Boeing Starliner, along with SpaceX Crew Dragon, for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract round. The first crewed test flight test was initially planned to occur in 2017.

In late 2019, the uncrewed Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test (Boe-OFT) launched on an Atlas V N22 and reached orbit, but the flight was not successful, failing to meet test objectives and returning to earth early. NASA allowed Boeing a repeat test flight, Boe-OFT 2, which was to launch in August 2021 but was scrubbed before launch due to inoperable valves in the propulsion system. After replacing the spacecraft's service module, Boeing targeted OFT-2 to occur in May 2022 at the earliest. OFT-2 ended up launching on May 19, 2022. The craft suffered several anomalies during its flight but controllers were able to work around them and Boeing and NASA expressed confidence in the spacecraft. The first crewed launch is scheduled for no earlier than April 2023.

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