Starliner flight test incident recap: How Boeing's Starliner test flight got here and what NASA might do to bring astronauts home What was originally set to be a 10 day test flight turned into more than nine months and led to national headlines about the crew "stuck in space." They safely returned home in March. Zena Cardman was set to see her first spaceflight on that Crew-9 flight, but instead was bumped from the mission alongside Stephanie Wilson to allow room for the return of Williams and Wilmore. "I had many hopes for Crew-9, but my only promise was to do everything in my control for a safe splashdown of Crew-9, and we did that together," said Cardman. Williams and Wilmore arrived back on Earth in March 2025, splashing down off the Gulf Coast of Florida in that Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft. Cardman, Fincke, and Yui claim their major assignment changes worked out. "It's often said that it's not when you fly, but with whom you fly, and it worked out super well," said Fincke. "Yes, of course it was an unexpected change," she said. "But spaceflight is not about me or any individual. It's about what we can do together. None of us can do this by ourselves." "Now I have the opportunity to train with this wonderful, amazing, crew," Cardman added. "Life is a journey. It takes many turns, and I'm just grateful to be here." Will Starliner ever fly astronauts alongside SpaceX Dragon? "Starliner changed a lot in our office. Starliner is really important that we have more opportunities and more capabilities to fly into space," said Finke. "And that's why the Commercial Crew Program is still working hard with Boeing to get Starliner to be a viable transportation system up and down from the space station." NASA has repeatedly stated the need for redundancy in the Commercial Crew Program, seeking two functional spacecraft models in rotation. Boeing's Starliner was awarded a NASA contract alongside SpaceX as part of the Commercial Crew Program back in 2014. While SpaceX proved the Dragon in 2020 with the successful Demo-2 mission, Starliner has yet to fully complete an astronaut mission. SpaceX Dragon has since gone on to complete almost 10 crew rotations for NASA, with the addition of seven private astronaut missions.