Starliner crew flight test

Boeing's Crewed Flight Test of Starliner carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on what was planned as an eight-to-ten-day stay at the ISS, as part of the Commercial Crew Development program. During the approach to the station, five of Starliner's 28 RCS thrusters failed - four were eventually restored - and five helium leaks were found in the propulsion system. After weeks of analysis, NASA concluded the capsule could not be trusted to safely return the crew and sent Starliner home uncrewed. Wilmore and Williams spent 286 days aboard the station, returning to Earth aboard Crew Dragon on 18 March 2025.

The 100th Atlas V launch marked the rocket's first crewed flight. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station had not seen a crewed launch since Apollo 7 in October 1968, and no Atlas rocket had flown humans since Gordon Cooper's Mercury-Atlas 9 flight on May 15, 1963.