Despite a test flight that docked with the International Space Station but left the Boeing Starliner capsule returning empty, the spacecraft still could become a significant part of NASA's commercial payload program.

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunisa “Suni” Williams will have to wait, NASA leaders said, until February of next year to catch a ride back to Earth. And, much to Boeing’s chagrin, they’ll do it on a SpaceX spacecraft.

After Starliner developed thruster problems and leaks in the helium system that keeps the thruster system pressurized, NASA decided that the ship could not be trusted to carry Williams and Wilmore home safely. They will return instead in February aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft wearing the white suits adapted to the Dragon ships.

It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.

Boeing's plagued Starliner spacecraft wasn't empty when it gently drifted back down to Earth over the New Mexico desert over the weekend. While NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' seats were unoccupied,

A former astronaut explains what Starliner’s return means for the future of NASA, Boeing’s troubled space program, and the crew left behind on the ISS.

The Starliner slammed into the discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean before descending to a parachute-and-airbag assisted touchdown.

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NASA and Boeing will begin to assess what went wrong with the spacecraft’s thrusters and try to determine whether Boeing will have to make design changes.

The capsule, which returned without astronauts, and other space programs at Boeing have suffered many delays and cost overruns.