According to NASA, Boeing's Starliner astronauts could return in February 2025 with a SpaceX capsule
WASHINGTON: NASA officials said Wednesday the two astronauts who were launched to the International Space Station on Boeing's Starliner in June could return on SpaceX's Crew Dragon in February 2025 if Starliner continues to be deemed too unsafe to return to Earth.
The US space agency has discussed possible plans with SpaceX to leave two seats free on an upcoming Crew Dragon launch for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the first crew to fly Boeing's Starliner capsule.
The astronauts' test mission, originally scheduled to last about eight days on the station, was delayed by problems with the Starliner's propulsion system, raising increasing doubts about the spacecraft's ability to return them safely to Earth as planned.
A Boeing spokesman said if NASA decides to change the Starliner's mission, the company will “take the necessary steps to configure the Starliner for an unmanned return.”
Engine failures during Starliner's first approach to the ISS in June and several helium leaks – used to pressurize the engines – prompted Boeing to launch a test campaign to determine the cause and propose solutions to NASA, which has the final say. Recent results have revealed new information that raises even greater concerns about a safe return.
The latest test data has led to disagreement and debate within NASA about whether to take the risk of returning the Starliner to Earth or opt to use Crew Dragon instead.
Using a SpaceX spacecraft to return the astronauts Boeing planned to bring back on the Starliner would be a major blow to the aerospace giant, which has struggled for years to compete with SpaceX and its more experienced Crew Dragon.
The Starliner is docked to the ISS for 63 of the maximum 90 days it can stay and is parked in the same port that the Crew Dragon must use to deliver the next astronaut crew.
Early Tuesday morning, NASA used a SpaceX rocket and a Northrop Grumman capsule to deliver a routine shipment of food and supplies to the station, including extra clothing for Wilmore and Williams.
Starliner's high-risk mission is a final test needed before NASA can certify the spacecraft for routine astronaut flights to and from the ISS. Crew Dragon received NASA approval for astronaut flights in 2020.
Development of the Starliner has been delayed by management problems and numerous technical issues. Securities filings show that development has cost Boeing $1.6 billion since 2016, including $125 million for the Starliner's current test mission.
Concerns at NASA
A meeting of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is responsible for overseeing the Starliner, ended this week with some officials disagreeing with the plan to accept Boeing's test data and use the Starliner to transport the astronauts home, officials said during a news conference.
“The survey did not produce a result,” said Steve Stich, director of the Commercial Crew Program.
“We heard from a lot of people who had concerns, and the decision was not clear,” added Ken Bowersox, NASA's chief of space operations.
No Boeing executive was present at the press conference on Wednesday.
Although no decision has been made on whether to deploy Starliner or Crew Dragon, NASA has bought Boeing more time to conduct further tests and collect more data to build greater confidence in Starliner. NASA expects to make a decision sometime next week, officials said.
The agency on Tuesday postponed SpaceX's upcoming Crew Dragon mission, a routine flight called Crew-9 that would send three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the ISS, by more than a month.
NASA's ISS program director said the agency had not yet decided which astronauts it would send on the mission to replace Wilmore and Williams if needed.
Boeing's tests so far have shown that four of the Starliner's engines failed in June because they overheated and automatically shut down. Other engines that were reignited during testing appeared to be weaker than normal due to fuel constraints.
Ground tests at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in late July revealed that overheating of the engines caused a Teflon seal to deform, clogging the engines' fuel lines and reducing their thrust.
“That, I would say, added to the unease, as did the fact that we didn't fully understand the physics of what was happening,” Stich said, describing why NASA now seems more willing to talk about a Crew Dragon emergency after previously downplaying such a possibility to reporters.
