Boeing Crew Flight Test
Boeing Starliner Calypso launches on the Crew Flight Test atop an Atlas V rocket | |
| Names | Boe-CFT |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Flight test |
| Operator | Boeing Defense, Space & Security |
| COSPAR ID | 2024-109A |
| SATCAT no. | 59968 |
| Website | nasa.gov/boeing-crewflighttest |
| Mission duration | Planned: 8 days Actual: 93 days, 13 hours and 9 minutes |
| Orbits completed | 1,464 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Boeing Starliner Calypso |
| Spacecraft type | Boeing Starliner |
| Manufacturer | Boeing Defense, Space & Security |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Launching | |
| Landing | None |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 5 June 2024, 14:52:15 UTC (10:52:15 am EDT) |
| Rocket | Atlas V N22 (AV-085) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC‑41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 7 September 2024, 04:01:35 UTC (6 September, 10:01:35 pm MDT) |
| Landing site | White Sands Space Harbor |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 315 km (196 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 324 km (201 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | Harmony forward |
| Docking date | June 6, 2024, 17:34 UTC |
| Undocking date | September 6, 2024, 22:04 UTC |
| Time docked | 92 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes |
Boeing Crew Flight Test mission patch Williams (left) and Wilmore (right) | |
Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT) was the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on June 5, 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The mission was meant to last eight days, ending on June 14 with a landing in the American Southwest. However, Starliner's thrusters malfunctioned as it approached the ISS. After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed on September 7, 2024, and successfully landed at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, although it experienced a thruster failure that left the capsule without fault tolerance. The astronauts rode down aboard SpaceX Crew-9 on March 18, 2025.
Originally scheduled for launch in 2017, Boe-CFT experienced numerous delays. The spacecraft's two preceding uncrewed orbital flight tests, Boe‐OFT and Boe‐OFT‐2, were conducted in 2019 and 2022 respectively.
Starliner was placed atop the Atlas V launch vehicle on April 16, 2024, but the mission's launch was repeatedly postponed by technical problems. An oxygen valve problem on United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V rocket scrubbed the first launch attempt on May 7. A second launch attempt on June 1 was scrubbed when a ground computer failed. Subsequent delays were caused by helium leaks in the Starliner's service module; helium leaks would continue to be a problem throughout the mission. The third launch attempt on June 5 at 14:52:15 UTC (10:52:15 am EDT local time at the launch site) was successful.
An investigation report released in February 2026 retroactively classified the mission as a Type A mishap, NASA's most severe failure category, typically reserved for missions involving loss of vehicle or life. The report cited hardware failures, qualification deficiencies, leadership errors, and organizational shortcomings that created risks inconsistent with NASA's human spaceflight safety standards. Administrator Jared Isaacman said that while the spacecraft has design and engineering deficiencies requiring correction, he was most troubled by the failures in decision-making and leadership at both NASA and Boeing.