HMM: NASA Eyes Plan to Get Boeing Back on Track as SpaceX Alternative.

Boeing Co.’s Starliner is undergoing analysis and upgrades, a test campaign slated for this summer and at least one additional demonstration flight that could cost $400 million or more — all to prove it’s a viable alternative to Elon Musk’s Dragon capsule for getting Americans to orbit.

“We’re working hand-in-hand with Boeing as well on certification of Starliner, getting that vehicle back to flight,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s commercial crew, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

The return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule “shows how important it is to have two different crew transportation systems,” Stich added.

His comments were the most bullish in months about the troubled Boeing program. But a question he and other NASA officials stopped short of answering Tuesday is who would foot the bill for such an extensive test campaign, or even the extent of the company’s commitment.

That’s a big if. Boeing was out $1.6 billion on Starliner — it was a fixed-price program and, the company swears, Boeing’s last — before thruster leaks forced CFT to come home without Butch and Suni.

Whether Boeing wants to go even deeper into the red trying to fix the leaky thrusters and on what could be two more flight tests — one manned, one not — is a question the company has yet to answer.