NASA Report Slams Boeing Starliner Failures, Leadership Blamed

WASHINGTON (Azat TV) – NASA on Friday released a comprehensive 300-page report detailing critical technical and leadership failures that plagued Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Crewed Flight Test, which left two astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months instead of the planned one-week mission. The U.S. space agency retroactively classified the mission as a “Type A mishap,” its most serious category, typically reserved for incidents involving extensive spacecraft damage or loss of life, drawing sharp criticism from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman directed at both Boeing and his own agency.

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched in June 2024 as Starliner’s inaugural test crew. However, just 24 hours after liftoff, as the spacecraft approached autonomous docking with the ISS, five maneuvering thrusters failed, necessitating manual intervention. This propulsion issue was among four major technical failures that triggered months of testing and debate, ultimately extending the astronauts’ stay in orbit from days to 286 days. They eventually returned to Earth in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule after NASA ruled out their return on the Starliner itself.

Starliner Report Highlights Technical and Organizational Failures

The newly published report, completed in November 2025 and based on interviews with anonymous NASA officials, outlines a cascade of issues. Beyond the propulsion system anomalies and helium leaks, it points to severe communication breakdowns and unprofessional conduct during tense meetings between NASA and Boeing officials. Interviewees described “shouting,” “emotionally charged and unproductive” discussions, and an environment where input not aligned with a “desired outcome” was “filtered out or dismissed,” according to CBS News. This created a “culture of mistrust” that NASA Administrator Isaacman vowed would “never happen again.”

Isaacman, who took NASA’s top job after his Senate confirmation in December, did not mince words at a news conference marking the report’s release. He criticized Boeing’s “design and engineering deficiencies” but emphasized that the “most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware” but rather one of “leadership and decision-making.” He warned that if these organizational issues were left unaddressed, they could foster a culture “ill-suited for human spaceflight” and called for “full accountability, exceptional professionalism and decisive action.” The report also identified an “erosion of trust” between the two organizations and leadership that was “overly risk-tolerant.”

“Type A Mishap” Classification and Astronaut Return

The classification of the Starliner mission as a “Type A mishap” places it in the same category as tragic events like the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia accidents, and the Apollo 1 fire. While those incidents resulted in crew fatalities, the Starliner mission was “ultimately successful in preserving crew safety,” as noted in the report. The decision to return Wilmore and Williams on a different spacecraft underscored NASA’s determination that the Starliner was not safe for crewed re-entry at the time. The Starliner capsule successfully made an uncrewed return to Earth in September 2024, although the investigation revealed it had additional propulsion problems that left it without backup options for another failure.

Boeing, in its statement, expressed appreciation for NASA’s investigation and its opportunity to contribute. The company stated it has made “substantial progress” on corrective actions and implemented “significant cultural changes across the team that directly align with the findings in the report,” according to CNN. Boeing has already spent tens of millions on post-mission fixes and has recorded approximately $2 billion in charges on the project since 2016. NASA, meanwhile, reduced the total contract value to $3.7 billion and cut the number of planned flights from six to four last year, citing development difficulties and the approaching 2030 retirement of the space station.

Future of Starliner and Commercial Crew Program

The Starliner program is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was established to ensure two independent options for transporting astronauts to the ISS following the Space Shuttle’s retirement in 2011. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, the other provider, has successfully flown multiple crewed missions for NASA since 2020 without a mission failure, reinforcing its position as a reliable contractor. Despite the extensive issues and the report’s 61 formal recommendations for technical, organizational, and cultural domains, Administrator Isaacman affirmed NASA’s commitment to flying Starliner to ensure the agency maintains two options for crew transport to the space station, even as the ISS approaches its planned decommissioning by the end of the decade.

The Starliner report offers a stark reminder of the complexities and inherent risks of human spaceflight, particularly within commercial partnerships. The emphasis on leadership accountability and transparent oversight signals a potential shift in how NASA manages its collaborations, aiming to prevent similar breakdowns from compromising future missions and the safety of its astronauts.