The Starliner mission was very successful in this important respect

Starliner’s latest spaceflight was a mixed bag overall. It successfully landed on Earth, but without astronauts. It reached the space station, but not without worrying leaks and numerous delays. There was one success that came with no strings attached: Starliner was the latest proof that the hardware critical to transporting astronauts to the lunar surface works.

NASA’s docking system, designed to support human lunar exploration, performed “really well” during undocking on Friday, said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, speaking to reporters at a NASA news conference on Saturday. NASA’s docking system features an adapter like the one that will one day be used over the moon, perhaps late this decade.

NASA’s push to return humans to the moon began two years ago with Artemis I. NASA’s Orion spacecraft, certified for manned missions, flew empty past the natural satellite and back to prove that it could one day safely carry astronauts from Earth to the moon.

But Orion is just a space taxi: If astronauts want to reach the lunar surface, they need something like a bus station. The astronauts on Artemis III, the program’s first surface mission, will have to leave Orion and board a separate vehicle that will also land there. (SpaceX has the contract for the Artemis III lander.) The two spacecraft must dock correctly – and eventually separate. Ideally, the docking system follows a standard pattern.

That’s where the International Docking Adapter (IDA) comes in. To begin its journey back to Earth, Starliner undocked from the IDA on the International Space Station’s (ISS) Harmony module on Friday evening. Boeing built the IDA and Russian company RSC-Energia manufactured its main structure, according to NASA.

The name IDA comes from the international model that the organization follows.

NASA’s plan calls for unfinished spacecraft manufactured in the United States or abroad to meet this standard, including both space agency and commercial vehicles.

Starliner’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, another Commercial Crew Program spacecraft, has already docked with this adapter. Friday’s launch marked the second time Starliner used NASA’s docking system; the first was during the 2022 Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 mission.

“It’s a derivative system that we’ll use later for Orion, so it was good to pave the way for Orion as well,” Stich said of the NASA docking system’s performance on Friday.

The IDA systems are “much more sophisticated” than previous docking systems, according to NASA. Their lasers and sensors allow the two spacecraft to “digitally communicate with each other.” This promotes their connection and automates alignment.

Even without the IDA, Starliner and Crew Dragon were already critical to NASA’s Moonshot 2.0. If Starliner’s engine and helium leak problems are fixed and the vehicle regularly carries crews to the ISS on long-duration, six-month missions, NASA expects to save money on its budget, giving it money for its ambitions to the Moon and perhaps Mars.