Starliner Test Flight Delayed to Late 2025 or 2026

NASA and Boeing are addressing ongoing challenges with the Starliner spacecraft, which is now scheduled to launch again in late 2025 or 2026 due to propulsion system issues, especially with the thrusters. Despite resolving over 70% of flight anomalies from its first crewed mission, concerns persist over thruster reliability, prompting extensive testing and upgrades. NASA plans additional thermal and propulsion tests to certify the capsule for human missions, though no subsequent test flight is currently scheduled. The Starliner is expected to have only a limited number of missions to the International Space Station before its retirement. Meanwhile, NASA is leveraging AI in spacecraft engineering, and the StarBurst gamma ray observatory has arrived for testing to study cosmic phenomena.