The saga of the Starliner may still have some life left in it. Although its test flight was unsuccessful, resulting in a crew being left stranded in space, NASA has not yet given up on Boeing’s troubled spacecraft. The Starliner may be given another opportunity to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA officials announced during a briefing on Wednesday that they are considering launching another test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft before certifying it for regular crew rotation missions. According to Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, as reported by SpaceNews, “What we’d like to do is have that one flight, and then we’ll get into a crew rotation flight.” The next flight will serve as a test of all the changes made to the vehicle, and the subsequent flight will be used to get Boeing into a crew rotation.

The Starliner spacecraft from Boeing launched to the ISS on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams for the spacecraft’s first crewed test flight. However, things did not go as planned, as five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed on its way to the ISS, and the Starliner returned home empty after NASA deemed it unfit to fly the crew back to Earth. The space agency devised a creative plan to return the astronauts from space by arranging for them to ride on a SpaceX Dragon crew vehicle.

The upcoming test flight of the Starliner will verify that the spacecraft’s thrusters function properly in space after modifications to its malfunctioning propulsion system. Boeing plans to conduct a ground test of the propulsion system this summer to evaluate the company’s fixes. A subsequent flight to the ISS will demonstrate the spacecraft’s ability to operate in a space environment that is difficult to replicate on Earth, according to Stich. Once the modifications have been validated, NASA hopes to incorporate the Starliner spacecraft into its crew mission schedule, which is currently dominated by SpaceX and its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 as part of the Commercial Crew Program to develop spacecraft capable of carrying crew and cargo to the ISS. To date, Boeing has not fulfilled the terms of its $4.3 billion Commercial Crew Program contract with NASA, whereas its competitor, SpaceX, has flown 10 crews to the ISS and back.

The crewed test flight of the Starliner was supposed to be its last before being certified to transport crew to the ISS on a regular basis, along with SpaceX. However, the failed flight prompted NASA to delay Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s next chance at flying to the ISS. The space agency had hoped that Starliner would launch its first crew mission by early 2025. Instead, NASA chose to use its more reliable commercial partner, SpaceX, to launch the Crew-10 mission on March 12. SpaceX’s Dragon was also used to retrieve the two Starliner astronauts from the ISS.

Despite the disastrous crew flight of the Starliner, NASA is still willing to give its commercial partner another chance to carry astronauts to and from the ISS. This would allow NASA to have two private vehicles as options instead of just one, reducing its dependence on SpaceX as its primary ride.