Nasa Reclassifies Boeing Accident as Type A Mishap

NASA has officially reclassified the Boeing Co. incident where astronauts found themselves stranded in space due to a malfunction of the Starliner spacecraft. This designation, Type A, is the agency’s most serious safety classification. The update comes nearly eight months after the problematic mission concluded.

On February 19, during a press briefing that addressed multiple technical issues related to the mission, NASA unveiled this new classification, positioning the crew test flight alongside the catastrophic Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters. “This was a truly challenging event in our recent history,” noted NASA Deputy Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “I nearly had a really bad day.”

The planned crew test flight was slated for June 5, 2024, and intended to transport NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS). Although the spacecraft reached the ISS, several serious failures along the way raised significant safety concerns for the crew.

As Starliner approached the space station, it experienced multiple thruster malfunctions, leading to what mission controllers referred to as a loss of “six degrees of freedom control.” This impacted the spacecraft’s ability to maintain its intended orientation and trajectory. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged the seriousness of the situation in a letter to all employees.

“Flight rules were properly challenged, control was restored, and docking was successfully achieved,” Isaacman stated. “But let’s be clear: If different decisions had been made at that time—if they hadn’t been able to regain control, or if docking had failed—the outcome could have been drastically different.”

The complications persisted throughout the mission. NASA opted to extend the astronauts’ stay at the ISS multiple times to investigate the thruster issues. Ultimately, after thorough evaluation, the agency deemed returning the spacecraft with crew members too unsafe, leading Starliner to return to Earth without astronauts on September 6. Even during this autonomous reentry, the capsule encountered a crew module propulsion failure, resulting in inadequate thruster performance during its descent.

Williams and Wilmore ended up spending around nine months in space rather than the originally planned 10 days, returning to Earth in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Both astronauts have since retired from NASA.

Nasa categorizes accidents from Type A, the most serious, to Type D, with close calls accounted for separately. Any incident causing at least $2 million in damages or resulting in an unplanned flight deviation qualifies as Type A. According to Isaacman, the crew flight test clearly met those criteria.

Administrators revealed that NASA misclassified the mission during and immediately after the flight, largely due to a singular focus on certifying Starliner as operational. “Concerns about the Starliner program’s reputation influenced that decision,” Isaacman remarked. “This undue defense compromised the mission, the crew’s safety, and the broader U.S. space agenda in ways that weren’t entirely grasped at the time. It fostered a culture of distrust that must never occur again, and accountability will follow.”

Boeing and NASA are currently investigating the root cause of the thruster failures. Isaacman highlighted that Starliner will not transport astronauts until the issues are resolved. The spacecraft is slated for an unmanned cargo mission to the ISS by April, but the specific launch date remains unconfirmed.