NASA and Boeing plan to return astronauts to flight on Starliner-2 by 2028, following an uncrewed engineering mission and additional testing. The agency described this as its current plan in its September 28 update.
What NASA plans to test first
NASA said uncrewed Starliner-1 could launch in December 2026 or January 2027. The mission will gather data on propulsion performance and assess thermal changes to the service module after problems during the 2024 crew flight test.
NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance also plan to certify Vulcan for future crew transportation after the final Atlas V flight. The crewed schedule depends on testing and certification.
