Boeing's Starliner astronauts could return to SpaceX capsule in February 2025, NASA says
WASHINGTON: Two astronauts sent to the International Space Station by Boeing's Starliner in June could return to SpaceX's Crew Dragon in February 2025 if the Starliner is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth, NASA officials said Wednesday.
The US space agency is discussing possible plans with SpaceX to leave two seats free on an upcoming Crew Dragon launch for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will become the first crew to fly Boeing's Starliner capsule.
The astronauts' test mission, originally expected to last about eight days at the station, has been derailed by problems with the Starliner's propulsion system that have raised questions about the spacecraft's ability to return them safely to Earth as planned.
A Boeing spokesman said that if NASA decides to change Starliner's mission, the company will “take the necessary actions to configure Starliner for uncrewed return.”
A thruster failure during Starliner's initial approach to the ISS in June and multiple leaks of the helium used to pressurize those thrusters have halted a test mission for Boeing to determine the cause and propose a solution to NASA, which has the final say. Recent results have revealed new information, which gives a big warning about safe returns.
The latest test data has fueled disagreement and debate within NASA about whether to accept the risk of returning the Starliner to Earth or call for the use of Crew Dragon.
Using the SpaceX craft to return astronauts that Boeing plans to bring back aboard the Starliner would be a major blow for the aerospace giant, which has struggled for years to compete with SpaceX and its more experienced Crew Dragon.
Starliner is docked with the ISS for 63 days out of a maximum stay of 90 days, and is parked at the same port that Crew Dragon will use to deliver the next crew of astronauts.
On Tuesday morning, NASA, using a SpaceX rocket and a Northrop Grumman capsule, sent a routine shipment of food and supplies to the station, including extra clothes for Wilmore and Williams.
Starliner's high-stakes mission is the final test 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.
Starliner development has been set back by management issues and numerous engineering problems. It has cost Boeing $1.6 billion since 2016, including $125 million from the Starliner's current test mission, securities filings show.
Worry at NASA
A meeting this week of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which oversees Starliner, ended with some officials disagreeing with Boeing's plan to accept test data and use Starliner to bring astronauts home, officials said at a news conference.
“We didn't vote in a conclusive way,” said Steve Stich, head of the Commercial Crew program.
“We heard concerns from a lot of people, and the decision was not clear,” added Ken Bowersox, NASA's chief of space operations.
Boeing executives were not present at Wednesday's news conference.
No decision has been made on whether to use the Starliner or the Crew Dragon, but NASA is buying more time for Boeing to conduct more tests and collect more data to build a better case for trusting the Starliner. NASA is expected to make a decision sometime next week, officials said.
The agency on Tuesday delayed by more than a month SpaceX's upcoming Crew Dragon mission, a regular flight called Crew-9, expected to send three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the ISS.
NASA's ISS program chief said the agency had not decided which astronauts would be removed for Wilmore and Williams if necessary.
Boeing's tests so far have shown that four of the Starliner's jets failed in June because they overheated and shut down automatically, while other thrusters that were re-fired during the test appeared weaker than normal due to some restriction in their propellant.
Ground tests at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in late July helped reveal that overheating of the thrusters caused the Teflon seals to warp, choking the propellant tubes for the thrusters and thereby weakening their thrust.
“That, I would say, raised the level of discomfort, and not fully understanding the physics of what's going on,” Stich said, explaining why NASA seems more willing to discuss the Crew Dragon contingency after first downplaying such a possibility. Journalists.
