NASA Delays Starliner's First Operational Flight

Starliner's operational launch has been delayed (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA The first operational flight for the Starliner spacecraft will be delayed. Unlike previous NASA plans, the Boeing-made aircraft will not launch early next year.

Earlier this year, NASA said it wanted to get CST-100 Starliner certification on time so this aircraft could be used for Crew missions early next year. However, due to problems in the final test flight, this target failed to be achieved.

Quoting from the Spacenews report, NASA revealed that the Crew-10 mission will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) using SpaceX's Dragon aircraft. The mission is targeted to take off as early as February 2025.

Crew-11, which is targeted to launch in July 2025, will be delivered by Dragon aircraft. NASA has revealed four astronauts for the Crew-10 mission consisting of two NASA astronauts, one JAXA astronaut, and one Roscosmos cosmonaut.

The cancellation of Starliner's operational flights is indeed related to problems with vehicles that have trapped two of its astronauts on the ISS for months. To maximize Starliner's inaugural mission going well, NASA and Boeing are still conducting inspections.

"The next Starliner flight will be determined once a better understanding of the Boeing path to system certification is formed," NASA said. "(we) continue to consider various options on the best way to achieve system certification, including opportunities for Starliner flights by 2025."

NASA has also shared the latest Starliner operational flight targets. The institute plans to launch its Starliner-1 mission in August next year. If possible, this mission will be prepared in parallel with Crew-11.