The mission was planned to be an eight-day test flight of the spacecraft, involving a rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station (ISS), and a landing in the western United States.

This anomaly caused the spacecraft to burn into an incorrect orbit, preventing a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).

[6] The capsule was weighted similarly to missions with astronauts onboard and carried approximately 270 kg (600 lb) of supplies and equipment including a plush toy of Snoopy and holiday presents for the Expedition 61 crew members.

The first Atlas V N22,[a] designated AV-080, launched the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station.

The capsule was intended to dock with the space station, then return to Earth to land in the Western United States after an orbital shakedown cruise ahead of Boeing Crewed Flight Test.

The dual-engine Centaur utilizes two RL-10 and is required for Starliner flights in order to provide a launch trajectory that allows for a safe abort at any point in the mission.

When it became obvious that the maneuver did not happen, NASA and Boeing tried sending commands to get Starliner back on track, but the position of the spacecraft switching communications between two TDRS satellites delayed the orbital insertion burn.

The decision was made to scratch the ISS rendezvous/docking since the spacecraft burned too much fuel to reach orbit even after Mission control center fixed the MET clock issue.

Though the ISS rendezvous that was planned for the OFT did not happen, Jim Chilton, vice president for Boeing's space and launch division, estimated that Starliner has achieved over 60% of the flight objectives, and this could reach over 85% once all the data from the spacecraft is retrieved and analyzed.

Its commander, Sunita Williams, informally dubbed the spacecraft "Calypso" after the famed oceanographic research ship and its eponymous John Denver song.

[13] The mission was reduced to just three days, with the spacecraft successfully landing at White Sands Space Harbor on December 22, 2019.

[11] After the mission, it was revealed that another critical software bug was found in flight, which could have resulted in the service module bumping back into Starliner after separation.