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https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/na...it-flying/
EXCERPTS: Why would NASA go to these lengths to keep Starliner in the game? There have been questions about Boeing’s commitment to Starliner in recent years, given its financial losses. Boeing might well have thrown in the towel. So it’s possible that NASA is meeting Boeing halfway to keep a needed spaceflight capability going. (It also helps that Boeing has excellent lobbyists.)
But NASA had limited choices given that SpaceX has repeatedly indicated that its plans to retire Dragon by 2030 are more than aspirational. Although the Dragon development program was financially backed by NASA, SpaceX has contractually fulfilled its obligations with the Dragon missions to the space agency. SpaceX can therefore do as it pleases with Dragon.
So if NASA wants to maintain a presence in low-Earth orbit, it needs a crew vehicle beyond 2030. In July, Ars wrote about how panic was setting in among companies seeking to develop private space stations in low-Earth orbit, where NASA is expected to be an anchor tenant after the end of the International Space Station. As they finalized plans for their stations, the companies were finding that SpaceX would not give them bids for crew transportation, and Boeing was not committing to a price for the 2030s, either. So they were building private space stations with no way to get people there, or back.
[...] As it contemplates a future without access to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA will make some key moves to ensure that Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which has a decidedly checkered record in spaceflight to date, is safer and can continue flying after its Atlas V rocket retires.
Multiple sources confirmed to Ars that as early as next week, NASA will announce that it will order two additional Starliner crewed missions from Boeing, pay some of the costs to fix the spacecraft’s thruster issues, and provide support to certify the spacecraft’s launch on a new rocket.
[...] After long signaling it privately, SpaceX has begun to publicly confirm its intentions to wind down the Dragon program, a remarkable move given that the vehicle began flying humans just six years ago. However, the company is seeking to pivot toward its much larger Starship rocket, with the intent of launching its more lucrative Starlink satellites and a new megaconstellation focused on orbital data centers.
This week, on the All-In Podcast, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell was asked if the company would respond to demand for Crew Dragon and keep flying the vehicle “for some time.”
Shotwell would not commit to that. “We’re not retiring it today, for sure,” she replied. Then Shotwell suggested that Boeing should really step up and deliver. “There is another provider,” she said. “Boeing has been paid, I think, probably more than we have been paid to develop their human capsule. So we’re just gonna let them have some business. They should fly their capsule. The government paid a lot of money for that.”
[...] NASA did, indeed, pay a lot for the Commercial Crew program. Dating to 2010, for development and certification of their vehicles, NASA has paid SpaceX approximately $3.1 billion and Boeing $5.1 billion. SpaceX has been the critical provider. With Dragon, the company has launched 13 crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA, with its next one set for October. All flights to date have been successful.
By contrast, Boeing has struggled mightily to bring the more expensive Starliner vehicle into service for NASA. Starliner experienced numerous issues on uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022; most seriously, thruster issues nearly led to the catastrophic loss of two astronauts during the spacecraft’s first crew test flight in June 2024. As a result, in February, NASA formally classified the 2024 flight of Starliner as a “Type A” mishap. The NASA astronauts on this flight, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, ultimately had to be returned safely to Earth on a Crew Dragon vehicle.... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Why would NASA go to these lengths to keep Starliner in the game? There have been questions about Boeing’s commitment to Starliner in recent years, given its financial losses. Boeing might well have thrown in the towel. So it’s possible that NASA is meeting Boeing halfway to keep a needed spaceflight capability going. (It also helps that Boeing has excellent lobbyists.)
But NASA had limited choices given that SpaceX has repeatedly indicated that its plans to retire Dragon by 2030 are more than aspirational. Although the Dragon development program was financially backed by NASA, SpaceX has contractually fulfilled its obligations with the Dragon missions to the space agency. SpaceX can therefore do as it pleases with Dragon.
So if NASA wants to maintain a presence in low-Earth orbit, it needs a crew vehicle beyond 2030. In July, Ars wrote about how panic was setting in among companies seeking to develop private space stations in low-Earth orbit, where NASA is expected to be an anchor tenant after the end of the International Space Station. As they finalized plans for their stations, the companies were finding that SpaceX would not give them bids for crew transportation, and Boeing was not committing to a price for the 2030s, either. So they were building private space stations with no way to get people there, or back.
[...] As it contemplates a future without access to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA will make some key moves to ensure that Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which has a decidedly checkered record in spaceflight to date, is safer and can continue flying after its Atlas V rocket retires.
Multiple sources confirmed to Ars that as early as next week, NASA will announce that it will order two additional Starliner crewed missions from Boeing, pay some of the costs to fix the spacecraft’s thruster issues, and provide support to certify the spacecraft’s launch on a new rocket.
[...] After long signaling it privately, SpaceX has begun to publicly confirm its intentions to wind down the Dragon program, a remarkable move given that the vehicle began flying humans just six years ago. However, the company is seeking to pivot toward its much larger Starship rocket, with the intent of launching its more lucrative Starlink satellites and a new megaconstellation focused on orbital data centers.
This week, on the All-In Podcast, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell was asked if the company would respond to demand for Crew Dragon and keep flying the vehicle “for some time.”
Shotwell would not commit to that. “We’re not retiring it today, for sure,” she replied. Then Shotwell suggested that Boeing should really step up and deliver. “There is another provider,” she said. “Boeing has been paid, I think, probably more than we have been paid to develop their human capsule. So we’re just gonna let them have some business. They should fly their capsule. The government paid a lot of money for that.”
[...] NASA did, indeed, pay a lot for the Commercial Crew program. Dating to 2010, for development and certification of their vehicles, NASA has paid SpaceX approximately $3.1 billion and Boeing $5.1 billion. SpaceX has been the critical provider. With Dragon, the company has launched 13 crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA, with its next one set for October. All flights to date have been successful.
By contrast, Boeing has struggled mightily to bring the more expensive Starliner vehicle into service for NASA. Starliner experienced numerous issues on uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022; most seriously, thruster issues nearly led to the catastrophic loss of two astronauts during the spacecraft’s first crew test flight in June 2024. As a result, in February, NASA formally classified the 2024 flight of Starliner as a “Type A” mishap. The NASA astronauts on this flight, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, ultimately had to be returned safely to Earth on a Crew Dragon vehicle.... (MORE - missing details)