Boeing's Starliner is years late, but NASA says it's also necessary
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Update: Liftoff of the ULA Atlas V rocket at 6:54 p.m. EDT! The rocket successfully delivered the Boeing Starliner to an optimal orbit for the OFT-2 mission. Minutes later the Starliner completed a crucial burn positioning itself in a safe orbit destined to meet up with the International Space Station about 24 hours later. Read our full post-launch story here.
Boeing and SpaceX were selected by NASA in 2014 to each develop a new craft that would ferry astronauts to the International Space Station following the end of the space shuttle program.
While both companies were tasked with doing the same thing, the outcomes couldn't be more different.
The agency spent nearly $8 billion to fund its Commercial Crew Program to develop SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner.
Boeing launched its Starliner to orbit once in December 2019 for an uncrewed test flight that failed to dock with the ISS and required an emergency return trip home.
SpaceX has operated its Crew Dragon capsule since March 2019 completing a total of eight missions, six for NASA and two privately funded ventures. Its most recent success was the Crew-4 mission that launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida just last month.
Years behind schedule and over-funded in comparison to SpaceX, Boeing’s Starliner is seemingly just an expensive missed opportunity.
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NASA Crew-4: Astronauts arrive at KSC for SpaceX's next ISS launch
However, NASA, Boeing, and outside experts all agree that a second crew transportation option is still necessary for one reason: Redundancy.
If something happens that causes SpaceX to lose its ability to ferry NASA’s astronauts to the ISS, NASA – and America – is left facing a future of relying on Russia for space transportation at $90 million a seat on its Soyuz spacecraft.
Redundancy is safety
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is the first time in American human spaceflight history that two methods of transportation to low-Earth orbit are meant to work in tandem.
The space shuttle program operated with five vehicles. However, when something happened to one of the vehicles, the entire program came to a screeching halt costing America access to its only space transportation system.
“When we lost Challenger, we were down two and a half years. And then in 2003 we lost Columbia and we were down another couple of years,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a Senate appropriations committee hearing earlier this month.
“Redundancies are one of the best safety assurance programs,” Keith Crisman, assistant professor of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota wrote to FLORIDA TODAY in an email. “If you only have one way to and from space, and something happens or (a) system becomes problematic and requires grounding, it (could be) possible to have people stranded,” he continued.
“A wholly alternate system with the same capabilities can handle a major failure and still be capable of operating at nominal status,” said Crisman.
Even though the Starliner is years behind schedule, NASA believes the extra time has been invaluable for the development of a redundant and reliable program that can ensure safe transportation options for its astronauts.
"We're not simply going to put up crew and spacecraft that are not safe, even though we've contracted with a commercial company,” Nelson said.
A rocky start
In December 2019 Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner test flight launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Boeing's Starliner Orbital Test Flight should have put the company on the same footing as SpaceX which completed its Crew Dragon uncrewed test flight months earlier in March 2019.
Instead, the test flight revealed very serious software errors that left Boeing with no choice but to abandon the attempt to dock with the ISS and bring the Starliner home for an early landing.
In May 2020, SpaceX launched its Crew Dragon vehicle for its crewed Demonstration-2 mission docking with the ISS and delivering astronauts for the first time from American soil since 2011.
In the time since its first flight, Boeing’s Starliner has been plagued by a slew of other mishaps.
Throughout 2021 a chance to redo the test flight was pushed back multiple times due to a schedule of heavy traffic visiting the ISS.
In August 2021, the Starliner was able to make it back out to the launch pad, but the redo test flight attempt was foiled again.
The humid Florida air caused corrosion that prevented many of the spacecraft’s valves from performing correctly.
The vehicle was then removed from its rocket booster and returned to the factory where a short-term solution was applied to enable the Starliner capsule to return to flight quickly for the redo of the orbital flight test.
After months of repairs, Boeing is now poised for its third attempt to get the Starliner in orbit and docked with the ISS on Thursday, May 19, for a redo of the Orbital Flight Test 2 mission.
Once the orbital flight test concludes and Boeing completes a thorough data review, a company representative said that a longer-term solution for the valve issue would be considered, including the possibility of a complete system redesign that would then be applied to all future Starliner capsules.
NASA’s high hopes for Starliner
From 2010 to 2014, NASA funded five rounds of fixed-price competition for commercial companies to develop human-rated spacecraft. It was the most efficient way, both in cost and time, to get NASA astronauts back to orbit in American spacecraft.
In 2014, the agency greenlit bids by Boeing and SpaceX with fixed-price contracts to fast-track the development of reusable American spacecraft.
At the time, William Gerstenmaier, former NASA associate administrator for human spaceflight, said it was in the agency’s best interest to award two contracts to “successfully accomplish safe, reliable missions to the ISS.” It also ensured “more options and flexibility for the Agency,” according to his selection statement.
Boeing was the biggest winner snagging a total of $4.8 billion in government funds to develop, build, test, and get its Starliner spacecraft into orbit by 2017.
SpaceX was awarded much less totaling $3.1 billion, but the company promised to achieve the same goal with its Crew Dragon vehicle.
Gerstenmaier, who left NASA in 2019 and is now a vice president at SpaceX, said “Boeing’s past performance demonstrated overall exemplary performance, in a timely, efficient, and responsive manner to meet contract requirements and agreement goals.”
Although Gerstenmaier expected Boeing’s proposal to be expensive, he believed it would be completed quicker than SpaceX’s citing Boeing’s history of “overall strong schedule performance combined with timely resolution of technical challenges on complex spaceflight development and operations work.”
A higher cost of development for Boeing was anticipated because its Starliner would need to be developed from scratch, as opposed to SpaceX’s proposal which would build out a crew variant of its Cargo Dragon vessel that at the time was already in operation transporting valuable supplies to and from the ISS.
“The transition from cargo to crew is more complex and therefore may have more technical and schedule risk than expected,” said Gerstenmaier. “Crew flights need to occur on schedule and this approach yields an uncertain schedule.”
A future for Starliner
To ensure NASA’s astronauts are aboard the ISS year-round, SpaceX currently launches and lands two crewed missions each year.
In February, NASA ensured that the U.S. would have a continual presence in space through 2028 by ordering three additional SpaceX commercial crew transportation missions to the ISS bringing the total to nine.
Once Starliner comes online, NASA intends to shift to one crewed mission per year for SpaceX and Boeing. But if the pattern continues, Boeing’s Starliner wouldn’t really be necessary for transportation services until 2029.
To make matters worse for Starliner, the Atlas V rocket it relies on to get to space is set to be retired by 2030 along with the ISS, Starliner's intended destination.
Beyond the uncrewed Starliner test flight to the ISS, Boeing currently has an agreement with NASA to support only three crewed missions.
Mark Nappi, Boeing vice president, and Starliner program manager, however, expressed confidence in the longevity of the program. “We have three post-certification missions and then there will be a follow on after that for (post-certification missions) four, five, and six that are not authorized today.”
“We’ve already secured those Atlas V vehicles for our (post-certification missions). We are in good shape and don’t have a threat of running out,” he said.
There will be other destinations for Starliner after the ISS is decommissioned said Michelle Parker, Boeing's vice president of space and launch.
“We have other prospects. We expect that there will be additional opportunities in the future,” she said. “(Starliner) is able to dock with different vehicles. That gives us something to build on,” she said.
“We have Orbital Reef. We’re a part of the team to use Starliner for transportation to Orbital Reef,” she said referencing the joint Blue Origin and Sierra Space endeavor to build a commercial space station.
The question of how Boeing will get Starliner to space once its Atlas V ride is retired, however, remains to be answered.
In response to a question about the possible cancellation of the Starliner program asked during a pre-flight teleconference, representatives from Boeing and NASA officials said they had full confidence in the program and were dedicated to seeing it succeed.
“We have no intent of that on the NASA side,” said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich in regards to pulling the plug on Starliner. “We have been a partner with Boeing all the way through,” he said. “We have confidence in the vehicle and that it’ll perform well in a flight environment.”
Parker responded similarly, “We’re committed to the program and really focused on getting back to flight safely, getting to certification, and looking at service to NASA long term,” she said.
Stich concluded, “from the NASA perspective, I work hand-in-hand with the Boeing team, and they are certainly committed to doing everything they can to fly our mission successfully and safely.”
“Our intent is to have two certified space transportation systems,” he said. “It’s very important to Commercial Crew to have our second transportation system up and operational to continue our assured access to ISS and also grow the lower Earth orbit economy.
For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Rocket launch Thursday, May 19
Rocket: United Launch Alliance Atlas V with Boeing Starliner
Mission: Uncrewed Starliner Orbital Test Flight 2 to the ISS
Launch Window: 6:54 p.m. EDT, Instantaneous — must launch on time
Launch Complex: LC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Trajectory: Northeast
Visit floridatoday.com/space for real-time updates and live video on launch day.
Jamie Groh is a space reporter for Florida Today. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @AlteredJamie.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA says it needs Boeing's Starliner for redundancy and crew safety
