'We Almost Did Have a Really Terrible Day.' NASA Now Says

The first astronaut mission of Boeing's Starliner taxi was a bumpier ride than NASA wanted to admit at the time.

The agency announced today (Feb. 19) that it has reclassified Starliner's Crew Flight Test (CFT) as a "Type A mishap" — the most serious kind, in the same category as the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia tragedies.

"This was a really challenging event in our recent history," NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said during a press conference today, which highlighted the findings of a report into CFT and its issues. "We almost did have a really terrible day."

CFT launched on June 5, 2024, sending NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS) for a planned 10-day stay.

Starliner reached the orbiting lab safely. On the way, however, the spacecraft suffered multiple thruster failures and temporarily lost "six degree of freedom" control — the ability to precisely maintain its desired orientation and trajectory.