IT’S HARD NOT TO CONCLUDE THAT STARLINER IS JUST MAKE-WORK FOR BOEING: Starliner launches to remain on Atlas 5. “With NASA planning to alternate between Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for International Space Station crew rotation missions once Starliner is certified, each flying once a year, it implies that Atlas 5 launches of Starliner could continue well into the latter half of the decade. ULA, which has stopped selling Atlas 5 launches, has previously discussed phasing out Atlas 5 in favor of Vulcan Centaur around the middle of the decade. . . . Even at a pace of one mission a year, though, and with no other customers for Starliner, the supply of Atlas vehicles would be exhausted before the projected retirement of the ISS in 2030.”

One launch per year. No other customers. Wed to an obsolete launcher. Nice vehicle, Boeing.