(Scypre.com) – NASA has decided to rely on SpaceX to return two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to Earth after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered several midflight issues during their mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The astronauts, who have been aboard the ISS since early June, will now return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, resolving months of speculation within the space agency. The mission was initially planned to last just over a week but has now stretched into months.
The Boeing Starliner program, already over budget by $1.5 billion and years behind schedule, faced significant challenges when five of its thrusters malfunctioned and helium leaked from its propulsion system. These issues prompted NASA to keep Wilmore and Williams on the ISS and ultimately led to the decision to bring them home on a SpaceX vehicle. The astronauts will remain on the ISS for another six months before returning to Earth in February 2024 on the Crew Dragon, part of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized the importance of safety in the decision, stating, “Spaceflight is risky — even at its safest and even at its most routine — and a test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine.” Despite Boeing’s public assurances of Starliner’s safety, NASA officials unanimously agreed to use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for the astronauts’ return due to uncertainties in the Starliner’s thruster performance.
The Boeing Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed in September. Boeing expressed its continued commitment to safety, but the setbacks have further complicated the spacecraft’s certification process, leaving its future role in NASA’s astronaut transport missions unclear. Meanwhile, SpaceX has been successfully ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020 under the Commercial Crew Program, which began in 2011 to support private companies in developing new space vehicles for low-Earth orbit missions.
NASA’s associate administrator, Jim Free, acknowledged the challenges faced during this mission but expressed confidence that the lessons learned would benefit future endeavors. “We are a learning organization,” Free said, underscoring the agency’s commitment to safety and continuous improvement.