Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore will return home next February, Reuters quoted National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as saying on Saturday.
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.
The return of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams has been delayed by thruster malfunctions of the Boeing spacecraft, he added.
NASA said that both the astronauts who had flown to the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard the Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will need to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA said, deeming issues with Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home.
Boeing has struggled for years to develop the gumdrop-shaped capsule Starliner, designed to compete with Crew Dragon as a second US option for sending astronaut crews to and from Earth’s orbit.
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2019: Starliner failed 2019 test to launch to ISS uncrewed
Starliner had failed a 2019 test to launch to the ISS uncrewed, but mostly succeeded in a 2022 do-over attempt where it also encountered thruster problems.
Its June mission with its first crew was required before NASA can certify the capsule for routine flights, but now Starliner’s crew certification path has been upended.
Since Starliner docked to the ISS in June, Boeing has scrambled to investigate what caused its thruster mishaps and helium leaks. The company arranged tests and simulations on Earth to gather data that it has used to try and convince NASA officials that Starliner is safe to fly the crew back home.
NASA’s decision, and Starliner’s now-uncertain path to certification, will add to the crises faced by new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who started this month with the goal to rebuild the planemaker’s reputation after a door panel dramatically blew off a 737 MAX passenger jet in midair in January.
(With agency inputs)
