NASA official acknowledges internal “disagreement” on safety of Starliner return

Boeing's Starliner is seen atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Enlarge / Boeing's Starliner is seen atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

During a news conference on Wednesday, NASA officials for the first time publicly discussed divisions within the agency about whether the Starliner spacecraft is really reliable enough to return two veteran astronauts—Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—back to Earth from the International Space Station.