Boeing and NASA have decided to fly the next Starliner mission without astronauts on board, opting instead for an uncrewed cargo flight to demonstrate that the spacecraft is safe and reliable.

The decision, announced on Monday, comes eight months after NASA’s two veteran test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were forced to return home aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following Starliner’s troubled debut crewed flight in 2024.

Despite successfully docking with the International Space Station, the spacecraft experienced persistent thruster failures and helium leaks, prompting NASA to deem it unsafe for crewed return.

The astronauts ended up stranded on the ISS for over nine months.

Since then, engineers have been intensively analyzing the thruster malfunctions and other problems.

The upcoming uncrewed cargo mission to the ISS is now targeted for no earlier than April 2026, subject to further testing and final certification.In a related move, NASA has reduced Boeing’s contracted Starliner missions from six to just four.

If the cargo flight succeeds, the remaining three missions will be used for crew rotations before the International Space Station is retired in 2030.