NASA/BOEING STARLINER UPDATE, Sept 28, 2026, KSC/online, 3:00 pm ET

NASA and Boeing will give an update on progress in resolving problems with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule at Kennedy Space Center on September 28, 2026 at 3:00 pm ET.  The news conference will be livestreamed.  Check NASA Live for the link.

In 2014, NASA contracted with Boeing and SpaceX to develop new crew spacecraft to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station because the space shuttle was retired in 2011. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon began flying astronauts in 2020. Boeing’s Starliner experienced several delays and was finally certified by NASA to carry NASA astronauts only in 2024. But the mission went awry due to propulsion valve failures during docking. The agency determined Starliner was not safe enough to bring the two crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, back to Earth. Starliner landed empty in September 2024 and Butch and Suni remained aboard the ISS until they could come back on a Crew Dragon several months later.

Two years after Starliner landed with no one aboard, it still hasn’t flown again. Boeing, with NASA’s help, is trying to resolve the thruster problems. NASA decided the next flight will be a test flight without a crew.

At the same time, SpaceX has made clear that it plans to terminate Crew Dragon in coming years as it transitions entirely to Starship, making Starliner an important element of NASA’s future earth-orbital human spaceflight missions.