NASA Declares Boeing Starliner Mission a “Type A” Mishap After It Left Astronauts Stuck On ISS For 9 Months

NASA has officially labelled the troubled 2024 crewed test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner as a “Type A” mishap, the agency’s most serious classification, following a sweeping internal investigation.

The designation is reserved for incidents involving major financial loss, loss of a vehicle or control, or fatalities. While no one was injured, NASA said the spacecraft’s loss of manoeuvrability as it approached the International Space Station created the potential for a far worse outcome.

In a statement, the agency said: "While there were no injuries and the mission regained control prior to docking, this highest-level classification designation recognises there was potential for a significant mishap."

How the mission unfolded:

The Starliner capsule launched on 5th June 2024 with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard for what was meant to be an eight-to-14-day mission. But propulsion system problems during flight forced an extended stay in orbit that ultimately lasted nine months.

At one point, the spacecraft’s thrusters failed, leaving it briefly out of control before the crew managed to recover the system and dock manually with the ISS. NASA later chose to return the capsule to Earth without the astronauts. It landed in New Mexico in September 2024. Wilmore and Williams eventually came home in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Both have since retired.

NASA chief Jared Isaacman told reporters: "Had different decisions been made, had thrusters not been recovered, or had docking been unsuccessful, the outcome of this mission could have been very, very different."

Report finds multiple issues with Starliner

The 312-page report, which was completed in November 2025 by an independent investigation team, pointed to a mix of hardware breakdowns, gaps in qualification testing, weak oversight and cultural problems between NASA and Boeing.

Investigators said these factors created risks that did not meet NASA’s human spaceflight safety standards. The agency also admitted that it initially failed to classify the loss of propulsion as a Type A mishap, even though it met the criteria as a “departure from controlled flight.”

Isaacman was blunt about the shared responsibility. "While Boeing built Starliner, Nasa accepted it and launched two astronauts to space," he said. "To undertake missions that change the world, we must be transparent about both our successes and our shortcomings. We have to own our mistakes and ensure they never happen again."

He added: "We are correcting those mistakes. Today, we are formally declaring a Type A mishap and ensuring leadership accountability so situations like this never reoccur."

NASA said it is implementing corrective actions and will not fly Starliner again until the technical issues are fully understood and resolved. Boeing said it has made “significant cultural changes” and progress on fixes.

The Starliner incident has raised fresh questions as NASA prepares for its next major milestone, sending astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years under the Artemis programme. The agency says that the mission will only launch when officials are confident that the rocket and spacecraft are ready.

For now, NASA says the record has been corrected and lessons have been learned. But the report makes clear just how close the agency came to disaster.