Through the public spat between US President Donald J. Trump and Tesla/X/Starlink/SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk – that thank God is all however over, now – there was a second when Trump floated slicing the billion-dollar contracts of SpaceX with NASA, after which an irate Musk responded by saying that he was decommissioning the corporate’s Dragon spacecraft from work.
Whereas Musk has since backpedaled the menace, for a second everybody attuned to the Area Program thought to themselves: that would go away NASA within the palms of the Russians and their Soyuz capsules, for the reason that different Starliner craft from trouble-plagued Boeing are nonetheless grounded after the failed maiden crewed mission, through which it left astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded in area for nearly a yr.
Now, information come up that NASA is delaying the earliest flight of the Starliner spacecraft to 2026.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has efficiently landed within the American state of New Mexico , NASA introduced in a broadcast.
The return to Earth with out the crew, which remained on the MSS, took about six hours pic.twitter.com/6QxYwTFndw
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) September 7, 2024
Bloomberg reported:
“The company had beforehand stated that Starliner’s subsequent flight to the Worldwide Area Station might happen as early as the top of this yr. NASA stated it’s nonetheless evaluating whether or not the following flight would carry astronauts on board or solely cargo.
Musk, who has been engaged in a high-profile feud with President Donald Trump, on June 5 threatened to decommission the Dragon earlier than later saying the spacecraft would keep in operation.”
“After struggling a botched take a look at flight in 2024 that left two astronauts on the ISS for greater than 9 months, the Boeing automobile has nonetheless not been licensed for carrying astronauts. Due to engine points with Starliner, NASA turned to SpaceX to bringing residence the astronauts on a Dragon craft.”
Boeing realizing the Starliner is likely to be again in NASA’s plans pic.twitter.com/82lzTJF6wG
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) June 5, 2025
Space Connect reported:
“’NASA is assessing the earliest potential for a Starliner flight to the Worldwide Area Station in early 2026, pending system certification and determination of Starliner’s technical points’, the company stated in an announcement on Friday.
‘The company continues to be evaluating whether or not Starliner’s subsequent flight will likely be in a crew or cargo configuration’.”
When Starliner returned safely – however uncrewed – to Earth, Boeing’s engineers noticed that as a vindication, as they had been reportedly assured it might have made the journey residence with Wilmore and Williams onboard.
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