NASA announced on Saturday that astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who are currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on the Boeing Starliner, will stay in space for a longer time than planned.
Due to safety concerns, it has been decided that they cannot return to Earth on the Boeing Starliner. Instead, they will remain on the ISS until February, which means they will spend about eight months in space.
The Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth without any crew to make room for the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. SpaceX Crew-9 is scheduled to arrive at the ISS on September 24 for a six-month mission. The Crew-9 Dragon capsule, which will be used for this mission, will also be used to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference that the decision to keep astronauts Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and send the Boeing Starliner back to Earth without a crew was made with safety as the top priority. He explained that safety is the most important value for NASA and guides all their actions. Nelson thanked both NASA and Boeing teams for their hard work in reaching this decision.
NASA officials also mentioned that while safety is their main concern, they plan to use this situation to learn and improve in the future.
NASA’s Associate Administrator Jim Free said that both NASA and Boeing teams have made great progress in developing the spacecraft, including testing the thrusters, understanding the materials in the valves, and dealing with complex fluid physics inside the spacecraft. He emphasized that NASA is a learning organization and that this experience will help them improve. Free assured that they are committed to ensuring the safety of their crews and their families by continuously learning and doing their best.
The decision also ends the uncertainty about what would happen to astronauts Williams and Wilmore. They arrived at the International Space Station on June 6 for a mission that was originally planned to last just over a week.
What happened with the Boeing Starliner?
Some problems with the Starliner spacecraft started even before its launch on June 5 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which was its first crewed test flight.
Astronauts Wilmore and Williams were initially supposed to stay on the International Space Station for just over a week before returning to Earth. However, after arriving at the space station a day after the launch, engineers found several issues with the spacecraft. They discovered leaks in the helium system and problems with the propulsion system, which made it difficult for Starliner to return to Earth as planned.
While figuring out what to do with the Starliner spacecraft, NASA decided to delay the launch of SpaceX Crew-9.
SpaceX Crew-9 was originally scheduled to launch earlier in August to replace the Crew-8 mission, which has been at the International Space Station (ISS) since March. However, since the Crew-9 members need an available docking port to arrive, and Starliner is currently occupying that port, Crew-9 cannot launch before September 24 at the earliest.
This delay gave NASA and Boeing time to gather and review data about Starliner to prepare for a flight readiness review.
As a result, Starliner will need to undock from the ISS before the Crew-9 Dragon capsule can arrive. Because Wilmore and Williams need a way to return to Earth, Crew-9 will now have only two members instead of four.
The Starliner crew will return to Earth on February 25. They will come back with the Crew-9 astronauts using the Dragon spacecraft, after the SpaceX astronauts finish their six-month mission at the International Space Station.
