Boeing's Starliner won't fly again until 2026, and without astronauts aboard.

Traffic at the International Space Station (ISS) is busy, with spacecraft coming and going almost every few weeks recently. Astronauts with the private Ax-4 mission undocked early July 14 to make way for SpaceX's upcoming Crew-11 mission for NASA, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon left the station at the end of May, and a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft arrived July 5, with its predecessor set to depart next month.

By the end of the year, nearly a half-dozen other spacecraft will launch to the ISS, delivering crew, cargo, research and technology demonstrations. It's one of the busiest eras the orbital laboratory has ever experienced, as recent years, especially, have seen a high increase of activity. But absent from the mix of shuffling spacecraft, at least for the rest of 2025, is Boeing's Starliner.

The last update provided about the stalled but stalwart space capsule announced a suite of tests set for this summer at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. NASA and Boeing had hoped to have those tests completed and fixes determined to ready Starliner for another flight by the end of this year, but that timeline seems to have slipped. NASA officials say they are now working toward the goal of launching Starliner again no sooner than early 2026.

Source: www.space.com

Share: