NASA Audit Finds Boeing Starliner Costly But Cheaper Than Relying Solely on SpaceX

A NASA audit highlights Boeing Starliner's delays and costs but concludes it remains a more economical option for the agency than depending entirely on SpaceX for crewed missions.

A recent audit by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General found Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is still a more cost-effective option for the agency than relying solely on SpaceX for commercial crew missions, despite ongoing delays and cost overruns. The audit, released June 30, warned that Starliner’s path to certification for crewed flights to the International Space Station (ISS) is running behind schedule, with human-rating certification likely delayed until 2027. That timeline leaves only three years before the ISS’s planned retirement in 2030, though Congress is considering extending the station’s operational life to 2032.

Starliner’s certification process has been plagued by setbacks. The spacecraft has completed three flights since its debut in 2019, including two uncrewed missions in 2019 and 2022 and a crewed test flight in June 2024. That mission, which carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS, was meant to last eight days but faced technical issues that forced an early return. The audit noted Boeing has yet to conduct the necessary flight tests to achieve full human-rating certification, a requirement for regular crewed operations.

NASA has not finalized a long-term plan for Starliner, which last flew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in 2024. The agency currently relies heavily on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for transporting astronauts to the ISS, but the audit suggests Starliner’s development, despite its challenges, is still less expensive than a complete shift to SpaceX for all crewed missions. Boeing has faced criticism for repeated delays and cost overruns, but the audit concluded its current approach remains more economical for NASA.

Congressional efforts to extend the ISS’s lifespan to 2032 and support commercial space station alternatives through 2040 could influence Starliner’s future. However, with certification still uncertain and technical hurdles remaining, NASA’s reliance on Starliner remains in question. The agency has not yet outlined a clear path forward for the spacecraft, leaving its role in future crewed missions unclear.