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NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said SpaceX intends to phase out its Falcon and Dragon systems as it focuses on Starship, prompting NASA to consider purchasing two additional crewed launches from Boeing's Starliner. NASA also announced it will spend $359 million to help Boeing rebuild the reaction control thrusters blamed for problems on Starliner's last mission.
NASA faces a pivotal test of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft this year, according to reporting on the agency's crew transport plans. The report states that SpaceX's Crew Dragon is set to be retired, leaving NASA with fewer alternatives for ferrying astronauts to orbit.
NASA plans to announce as soon as next week that it will order two additional crewed missions from Boeing's Starliner, help fund fixes to its thruster problems, and support certifying the capsule for launch on a new rocket. The move comes after SpaceX told NASA officials it intends to retire Crew Dragon by 2030 or sooner as it shifts focus toward Starship and Starlink-related business.
NASA hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies to launch an autonomous spacecraft called LINK to dock with the 21-year-old Swift observatory and push it into a stable orbit, mirroring Jared Isaacman's earlier scrapped plan to save the Hubble. The rushed, high-risk mission, assembled in record time after Isaacman became NASA administrator, ultimately fell apart before achieving its goal.