just realize that "starliner" is actually a very spacex-style name, by just gluing "star" in front of an ordinary word... 🤔

Starliner reminds me of surfliner... would go hard as a train route name (been getting into trains lately)

Starliner is such a pretty name it's a shame that the spacecraft is never gonna live up to its potential ☹️

1961 Ford Galaxie Starliner

Well, OP said any human rated spacecraft currently in operation. From our list, that is: Soyuz, Crew Dragon, Starliner, and Shenzhou. And since Nov 2025, we've added SLS/Orion another Crew Dragon flight and at least one (maybe two? Lost track...) Shenzhou. So that would say 4 fatalities of ~554 humans, or 0.72%. Which is a higher fatality rate than helos. Unless you want to adjust the statistics, and use a cut off date after the last fatal accident. Which was 1971, and there have been more than 500 humans flown without fatality since. But those are small numbers, and applying statistics to that, compared to helos that have thousands of flights a day, is a bit much. You'd also have to compare other non-fatal accidents. Soyuz has had several. Starliner wasn't fatal, but certainly had the potential to be. Even Crew Dragon and Orion experienced less serious anomalies. Shenzhou is pretty opaque - we really don't know exactly what happens on those flights, though the Chinese were more open about the crack on Shenzhou-20, which also had fatality potential. YMMV, but I'm really hard pressed to declare rockets as "safer" than helos. But then, I've flown helos and am comfortable with them, and have never flown on a rocket.

Será? Concorrente recebe mais e entrega menos esse é o passivo! A cápsula Crew Dragon da SpaceX custou inicialmente US$ 2,6 bilhões aos EUA pelo contrato de desenvolvimento da NASA em 2014, enquanto a cápsula Starliner da Boeing custou US$ 4,2 bilhões.

🚀Exactly. SpaceX isn’t just cheaper — they’re the only ones reliably flying NASA astronauts to the ISS right now while Starliner finishes its fixes. Reusability and rapid iteration = half the cost and way more flights. Taxpayers win big. Innovation > bureaucracy every time. What’s the next big SpaceX milestone you’re excited for? 🔥

Hum... there was ONE starliner and TWO crew dragons up there, seems like Elon was the one who stranded them

I thought Starliner docked crew too though ?

NASA needed a new capsule & awarded 2 contracts: SpaceX Dragon: $2.6 billion Boeing Starliner: $4.2 billion NASA manned flights so far: SpaceX Dragon: 13 Boeing Starliner: 1/2 (needed SpaceX's help) NASA got a good $$$-saving deal from Elon.

As for @spacex these were competitive, fixed-price bids that SpaceX has repeatedly won by offering dramatically lower costs (e.g., ~1/10th traditional launch prices). NASA has publicly credited them with billions in savings. Early NASA funding helped derisk reusable rockets, but the model shifted to commercial partnerships where performance wins. Boeing's Starliner delays and cost overruns show what happens when execution lags...Never mind the types of cost overruns, waste and incompetence if done by the guv.

De Starliner gebruikt vier van deze abortmotoren, die samen ongeveer 160.000 pound-force (ongeveer 710 kN) stuwkracht kunnen leveren om de capsule in een noodsituatie snel van de draagraket weg te trekken.

De Aerojet Rocketdyne-launch abort engine- voor Boeing's CST-100 Starliner. 2016 test.