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NASA decided Saturday that it was too risky to send two astronauts back to Earth on Boeing’s troubled new capsule and that they will have to wait until next year to return on a SpaceX spacecraft. What was supposed to be a week-long test flight will now last more than eight months.
The two experienced pilots have been stuck on the International Space Station since early June, after a series of thruster failures and helium leaks in their new capsule derailed their trip to the station, leaving them waiting while engineers ran tests and debated how to return.
After nearly three months, NASA officials finally made the decision on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams will return in February aboard a SpaceX capsule. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to land in the New Mexico desert, returning on autopilot.
As test pilots for the Starliner spacecraft, the two were supposed to oversee the crucial final leg of the journey.
“Test flights are inherently neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This decision was made out of a commitment to safety.”
Mr. Nelson said lessons from NASA’s two space shuttle accidents played an important role, noting that this time, open dialogue was encouraged rather than suppressed.
NASA associate administrator Jim Freeh added: “This was not an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one.”
Boeing ‘continues to focus’ on safety
It’s a blow to Boeing, exacerbating safety concerns that have dogged the company’s aircraft business. Boeing had counted on the first crewed flight of Starliner to revive its troubled spacecraft program, which has been dragged down by years of delays and ballooning costs. The company insists that Starliner is safe based on all recent thruster tests in space and on the ground.
Boeing did not participate in NASA’s press conference on Saturday, but issued a statement: “Boeing continues to be focused on the safety of the crew and spacecraft.” The company said it was preparing for the spacecraft’s “safe and successful return.”
Jan Osburg, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation who specializes in aerospace and defense, said NASA made the right choice. “But the United States is still humiliated by the design problems of Starliner, which should have been discovered earlier.”
Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, both retired Navy captains with experience in long-duration spaceflight. Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, both test pilots said their families had understood decades ago the uncertainty and stress of their careers.
In their only orbital press conference last month, the astronauts expressed confidence in the ongoing thruster tests, adding that they had no complaints and were happy to be involved in the work on the space station.
Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was similarly calm in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in their hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. She was prepared for a delay: “You just have to let it be.”
Norm Knight, director of flight operations, said he spoke with the astronauts on Saturday and they fully supported the decision to delay their return.
There are few options to choose from.
The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They are due to return in late September, and their regular six-month stay has been extended by one month due to Starliner’s woes. NASA has said it would not be safe to cram two more people into the capsule except in an emergency.
The docked Russian Soyuz space capsule was more compact and could accommodate only three astronauts, two of whom were Russian cosmonauts who had just completed a year-long space mission.
The return “taxi” will start in late September
So Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next glide flight, which will launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four. NASA is removing two astronauts to make room for two test pilots on a return flight in late February.
NASA said it had not seriously considered asking SpaceX for a quick, independent rescue. Last year, Russia’s space agency had to urgently provide a replacement Soyuz capsule for three astronauts whose original spacecraft was damaged by space junk. The shift delayed their scheduled six-month mission to a little over a year.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield praised the decision via X: “It’s better to err on the side of caution for the sake of astronaut lives.” Long-duration missions are “what astronauts strive for their entire careers. I would take it in a heartbeat!”
Starliner’s woes began long before its latest flight.
The first unmanned test flight in 2019 failed due to software problems and was eventually restarted in 2022. Then parachute and other problems ensued, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that scuttled a launch attempt in May. The leak was ultimately deemed isolated and small enough not to cause any problems. But more leaks appeared after liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.
All but one small thruster restarted in flight. But ground tests showed that a thruster seal had swollen and blocked a propellant line, which puzzled engineers. They speculated that the seal may have swelled in orbit and then returned to normal size. Officials said the result marked a turning point as their concerns grew.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial human spaceflight program, told reporters that because of the many uncertainties in the thrusters’ performance, “the risk is too great for the astronauts.”
Those 28 thrusters are vital. In addition to being used for rendezvous with the space station, they keep the capsule in the right orientation at the end of the flight, when the larger engines will take the spacecraft out of orbit. Getting it in the wrong direction could result in disaster.
With memories still fresh of the Columbia shuttle crash — the shuttle broke apart during re-entry in 2003, killing all seven crew members on board — NASA has made extra efforts to support the public debate about Starliner’s return capabilities.
Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA is not giving up on Boeing. NASA Administrator Nelson said he is “100%” sure that Starliner will fly again.
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