NASA Inspector General: Starliner's Woes Rooted in Overconfidence and Unrealistic Schedules

A report released June 30 by NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) links the long-running technical problems with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner to three underlying causes: overconfidence, unrealistic scheduling, and NASA's lack of insight into the spacecraft.

Starliner has not flown since its Crew Flight Test (CFT) two years ago, a mission marred by thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that led NASA to return the spacecraft uncrewed. The two NASA astronauts who traveled to the ISS aboard Starliner did not return until March 2025, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

The OIG report found that NASA was overconfident in Boeing's design and allowed the company to skip integrated system testing based on its long-standing spaceflight experience. This overconfidence, in turn, led Boeing to set—and NASA to accept—an unrealistic schedule. The commercial crew program office operated as if CFT was "only six months away" starting in May 2021, though the mission ultimately launched in June 2024. The third factor was NASA's limited access to Starliner flight simulator data; the agency failed to utilize data that was available before CFT, including simulation runs that resulted in the loss of vehicle or crew.

Personnel attrition has compounded the problem. The commercial crew program office lost 21 percent of its staff to attrition and reorganizations by April 2025. The OIG also sharply criticized NASA for waiting until February 2026—more than 18 months after CFT—to formally classify it as a "Type A" mishap, a delay that "continues to delay resolution of Starliner issues that have persisted across three flight tests since 2019."

On Starliner's future, the OIG struck a notably more pessimistic tone than Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who told Aviation Week on June 25 that most corrective actions are complete and that there "might be one launch this year." The OIG report noted that the uncrewed Starliner-1 cargo mission remains unscheduled, the most serious problems from CFT—including thruster failures and service module heating issues—remain unresolved, and certification could slip to 2027. "In the near term, given the continued challenges, we have concerns that all three of Boeing's authorized flights will not be flown by 2030 when NASA plans to decommission the station," the report stated.

Further Reading

Report links Starliner problems to overconfidence and unrealistic schedules (SpaceNews)