During a press conference today, NASA representatives confirmed that they have a contingency plan to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams back from the International Space Station (ISS) early next year Home. If they can’t depart soon on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them there, the backup plan relies on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, whose launch has been delayed while officials consider what to do next.
On June 5, the Boeing Starliner successfully launched astronauts (after several delays). The two astronauts were originally scheduled to stay on the International Space Station for about a week before parachuting back to Earth. But Starliner experienced a thruster failure and a helium leak while docking with the International Space Station, which combined with additional delays left the astronauts in orbit for more than two months while Boeing and NASA tried to identify the vehicle Is it still safe to use?
The crewed test flight in June was originally scheduled to take place seven years ago, but Boeing’s Starliner project has experienced severe delays and cost overruns. If SpaceX ends up having to bring two astronauts back to Earth, it would be just another misstep in a year that included Boeing having a door jam explode on one of its planes during a flight and pleading guilty to criminal fraud charges.
Tests at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility have shown deformed Teflon seals as a potential cause of Starliner thruster failure, but the agency is not expected to comment until the medium term on whether Williams and Wilmore will use The Boeing spacecraft returns to make the final decision.
Using Starliner remains NASA’s preferred solution, but a backup plan would be for SpaceX to send just two astronauts to the International Space Station on a late-September Crew-9 launch, leaving two spots open for Williams and Williams, according to officials. Elmore used it when he returned in February. If that happens, Boeing will reconfigure the Starliner spacecraft so that it can return to Earth unmanned before SpaceX Crew-9 launches.
