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News Topical, Digital Desk : The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially designated the 2024 Boeing Starliner mission, which left astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded in space for nine months, as a Type A accident. This is considered the agency's highest-level serious failure.
What was the mission plan?
The 311-page report, dated February 19, 2026, severely criticized the mission, comparing it to the Challenger and Columbia accidents due to serious technical failures and poor decision-making.
Initially planned as an 8- to 14-day mission in June 2024, a propulsion system failure involving five failed thrusters and a helium leak resulted in a nine-month ordeal.
What is a Type A mission?
The Type A classification label includes incidents that result in death, permanent disability, or damage exceeding $2 million, indicating the potential for a major accident.
The investigation criticized NASA and Boeing for ignoring safety warnings and poor leadership decisions.
The Starliner capsule returned to Earth without any humans on board, but the crew returned safely on a SpaceX mission in March 2025.
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