NASA called out over Boeing Starliner mission troubles
NASA is under fire from its own safety panel for how it handled Boeing's Starliner mission last year.
The mission, which launched in June 2024, ran into serious issues—think thruster failures and helium leaks—that left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stuck on the ISS way longer than planned.
The panel says NASA should have officially called it a "mishap," but didn't, which slowed down important investigations and raised concerns about future safety.
What happens next?
Instead of the planned eight days, the astronauts ended up staying nearly nine months before returning to Earth on SpaceX's Dragon in September 2024.
Because of all the problems, NASA has cut back future crewed Starliner flights from six to four.
The next uncrewed test isn't expected until at least April 2026 as NASA works to fix these safety issues.