During the public spat between US President Donald J. Trump and Tesla/X/Starlink/SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk – that thank God is all but over, now – there was a moment when Trump floated cutting the billion-dollar contracts of SpaceX with NASA, after which an irate Musk responded by saying that he was decommissioning the company’s Dragon spacecraft from work.
While Musk has since backpedaled the threat, for a moment everyone attuned to the Space Program thought to themselves: that would leave NASA in the hands of the Russians and their Soyuz capsules, since the alternative Starliner craft from trouble-plagued Boeing are still grounded after the failed maiden crewed mission, in which it left astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded in space for almost a year.
Now, news arise that NASA is delaying the earliest flight of the Starliner spacecraft to 2026.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has successfully landed in the American state of New Mexico , NASA announced in a broadcast.
The return to Earth without the crew, which remained on the MSS, took about six hours pic.twitter.com/6QxYwTFndw
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) September 7, 2024
Bloomberg reported:
“The agency had previously said that Starliner’s next flight to the International Space Station could occur as early as the end of this year. NASA said it is still evaluating whether the next flight would carry astronauts on board or only cargo.
Musk, who has been engaged in a high-profile feud with President Donald Trump, on June 5 threatened to decommission the Dragon before later saying the spacecraft would stay in operation.”
“After suffering a botched test flight in 2024 that left two astronauts on the ISS for more than nine months, the Boeing vehicle has still not been certified for carrying astronauts. Because of engine issues with Starliner, NASA turned to SpaceX to bringing home the astronauts on a Dragon craft.”
Boeing realizing the Starliner might be back 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 International Space Station in early 2026, pending system certification and resolution of Starliner’s technical issues’, the agency said in a statement on Friday.
‘The agency is still evaluating whether Starliner’s next flight will be in a crew or cargo configuration’.”
When Starliner returned safely – but uncrewed – to Earth, Boeing’s engineers saw that as a vindication, as they were reportedly confident it could have made the trip home with Wilmore and Williams onboard.
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