Two years after the infamous Starliner spacecraft launched on its maiden crewed flight, Boeing's troubled spacecraft could soon take to the skies again.
Following its June 2024 launch, Starliner dominated headlines for months when problems with the spacecraft prolonged the stay of the two astronauts on board at the International Space Station. The development vehicle returned to Earth empty, while its crew remained at the orbital station before heading home in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, a Boeing competitor.
Despite the mission's failure, NASA hasn't yet given up hope on Boeing. Instead, both organizations are continuing to work on plans to relaunch the Starliner capsule, as the American space agency seeks to add a second commercial vehicle capable of carrying astronauts into space to its fleet.
But the next time there won't be people on board Starliner, it's when it launches from Florida to the ISS.
NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission meticulously documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission meticulously documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission meticulously documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA) NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission carefully documented a 10-day journey that included a flyby of the Moon on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA)
NASA has released thousands more photographs taken by the Artemis II mission. Here are the best of them.
NASA has released thousands of new photographs taken during the Artemis II mission around the Moon. The astronauts selected for this mission meticulously documented the 10-day journey, which included a lunar flyby on April 6, when they traveled more than a quarter-million miles from Earth. (Courtesy of NASA)
Although the mission was originally scheduled to launch in April, NASA says the timeline is currently "under review." Here's everything you need to know about Boeing's Starliner and when the spacecraft might launch for NASA's next test flight.
What is the Boeing Starliner spacecraft?
This photo taken on July 3, 2024, shows the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is docked to the forward docking port of the Harmony module. The view is from the window of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, docked to the port next to the Starliner.
The Starliner spacecraft, designed and built by aerospace contractor Boeing, is designed to transport astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station.
The goal is for NASA to certify Starliner as the second operational spacecraft capable of reaching the ISS before the station's decommissioning by 2030. These missions will be contracted through NASA's Commercial Crew Flight program, under which NASA pays private companies to conduct orbital spaceflights using their own commercial vehicles.
Since 2020, SpaceX has been regularly flying to the space station using its Dragon capsule program. Dragon capsules, nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most SpaceX crewed missions involve a crew of four.
The next uncrewed Starliner mission to the ISS is under consideration.
Although Starliner's first crewed flight in June 2024 ended in failure, NASA continues to work with Boeing to certify the vehicle.
NASA previously announced it was working on launching Starliner's next test flight in April 2026—an uncrewed mission known as Starliner-1. But after April passed without the launch, the agency said the mission's timeline was "under review.".
According to NASA, the revision of the target launch date became necessary as teams continue to improve the launch vehicle.
«"The agency is assessing operational readiness and traffic on the space station to determine the earliest possible launch window," NASA said in a blog post on May 1. A NASA spokesperson was unable to provide further information in response to a request from USA TODAY Network on May 28.
When the mission does take place, NASA will forego the astronaut mission and instead send the spacecraft to the International Space Station carrying only cargo. The goal, as NASA explained in November, is to conduct a "flight validation of the system upgrade" implemented after the previous spaceflight failure.
What happened to Boeing's latest Starliner mission?
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the space station in June 2024 aboard the Starliner spacecraft, which was attached to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Although the astronauts were expected to stay on the orbital laboratory for up to 10 days, problems with the Starliner spacecraft delayed their return. Ultimately, NASA decided to have Starliner undock from Earth and return uncrewed, leaving Wilmore and Williams without companions.
The pair of astronauts then returned to Earth in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which reached the space station in September 2024 on a mission known as Crew-9.
Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander captured its shadow on the lunar surface after successfully landing near the volcanic formation Mons Latreille on March 2. The lander is the first of two landers built by the American company that will reach the moon in 2025 as part of critical missions designed to lay the foundation for returning humans to the moon in the coming years. (Firefly Aerospace) Athena, the lunar lander for Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission, captured this image of the lunar surface with Earth in the background before its landing attempt on March 6. Although the lander became the second American lander to reach the moon in a week, it ultimately landed on its side, significantly complicating the mission. (Intuitive Machines) NASA astronaut Suni Williams is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on March 18 after returning to Earth from a nine-month stay on the International Space Station. She and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore were part of the Boeing Starliner crew that launched in June 2024 on an unsuccessful test flight that was supposed to return to Earth a few days later. (NASA/Keegan Barber/Courtesy of Reuters) Butch Wilmore reacts after he, Suni Williams, and two other astronauts splashed down March 18 in the Crew Dragon space capsule after returning to Earth from the International Space Station off the coast of Florida. The astronauts' extended stay on the orbiting station dominated news reports for months. (NASA TV, via REUTERS) A member of the SpaceX support team is shown in the air, working to recover the SpaceX Dragon capsule that returned the Starliner astronauts and two others to a recovery ship after landing off the coast of Florida. (NASA/Keegan Barber/Courtesy of Reuters) This picture shows the crew of the privately funded Fram2 mission, from left to right: Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Eric Phillips, Mission Commander Chun Wang, Pilot Rabea Rogge, and Spacecraft Commander Jannicke Mikkelsen, on March 19, 2025, in Hawthorne, California. The mission launched on March 31 from Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The mission marked the first human spaceflight over Earth's polar regions. (Photo by Fram2/SpaceX/AFP via Getty Images) Pop singer Katy Perry stepped out of Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule in West Texas on April 14 after a short flight to the edge of space. Perry was part of an all-female crew that also included television journalist Gayle King, which flew from Blue Origin's Launch Site One. The high-profile launch made headlines and even drew criticism from some who viewed the mission as a gimmick. (Blue Origin, via REUTERS) Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, carrying astronauts Ayesha Boe, Amanda Nguyen, Kerianne Flynn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, and Lauren Sanchez, lifted off from Pad 1 near Van Horn, Texas, on April 14. Blue Origin has since launched five more crewed spaceflights on New Shepard through 2025. (Justin Hamel/Getty Images) This photo shows a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launching another batch of Amazon broadband satellites into low Earth orbit on December 16 after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The project was previously known as Project Kuiper but has since been renamed Amazon Leo. Since its first launch in April, Amazon Leo has placed 180 of the 3,000 satellites planned for the first constellation, which could compete with SpaceX's Starlink. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today) A group of Blue Origin employees, friends, and families gather on the beach in Cape Canaveral ahead of the launch of Blue Origin's second New Glenn rocket in 2025. Following its debut in January, the rocket lifted off for the second time on November 13 from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, sending two NASA ESCAPADE spacecraft on a journey to Mars. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today) Darkness falls on November 9 as Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket prepares for its second-ever launch from Cape Canaveral. Blue Origin is developing this giant rocket for heavy-lift missions, which could allow Jeff Bezos's company to compete with Elon Musk and SpaceX. (Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY/USA TODAY NETWORK) The SpaceX Starship spacecraft sits atop the Super Heavy rocket before sunrise on October 12, 2025, as preparations continue for its 11th test flight from the company's launch site in Starbase, Texas. (Steve Nesius/Reuters) The SpaceX Super Heavy rocket carrying the Starship spacecraft lifted off on October 13, 2025, for its 11th-ever test flight from the company's launch site in Starbase, Texas. It was the fifth Starship launch of 2025 and the second consecutive successful test flight after a year marked by explosive accidents early in the year. SpaceX is developing this rocket for future missions that will help NASA astronauts land on the moon and possibly take the first humans to Mars. (Steve Nesius/Reuters)
Spaceflights of 2025 in photos. See images of Blue Origin and SpaceX missions.
Photo 1 of 13 captures the shadow of Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander after its successful landing on March 2 near the volcanic formation of Mons Latreille. The lander is the first of two landers built by the American company scheduled to reach the Moon in 2025 as part of critical missions designed to lay the foundation for returning humans to the Moon in the coming years. (Firefly Aerospace)
NASA's Jared Isaacman sharply criticized Boeing and its former executives for the mission's failure.
In February 2026, NASA released a scathing report condemning not only the technical problems with Boeing's spacecraft but also the "unprofessional conduct" of managers during discussions about how the troubled test mission should proceed.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman minced no words when announcing the report's findings.
«"Starliner has design and engineering flaws that need to be corrected, but the most troubling issue uncovered by this investigation isn't the hardware," Isaacman wrote in a letter to NASA employees, which he published in full on the social media site X. "It's the decision-making and leadership issues that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.".
Both Wilmore and Williams have since retired, and the failed Starliner mission was their last as NASA astronauts.
Wilmore was the first to retire in August 2025. In a statement at the time, reflecting on his 25-year career as a NASA astronaut, he said his time in space had shown him that "the majesty of space reflects the glory of its creator in a way that is difficult to convey in words.".
In January 2026, Williams announced her retirement from NASA after more than 27 years with the American space agency. In her statement, she said, "Anyone who knows me knows that space is my favorite place.".
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect correspondent for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at elagatta@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Boeing's Starliner fly again? NASA says next mission is "under consideration.".