Two NASA Astronauts Are Stuck in Space Until February
Two NASA astronauts that have been stuck on the International Space Station since early June after problems arose with their Starliner spacecraft won't be able to return to Earth until February.
NASA has decided that it's too risky for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return in Boeing's Starliner, and they will have to wait till next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for Wilmore and Williams will now last more than eight months.
The Starliner took off for the International Space Station on June 5, but experienced a cascade of problems on the way, which included thruster failures and helium leaks. Since then the Starliner's two pilots have been waiting while engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the flight back.
NASA finally decided on August 24 that the empty Starliner will return on autopilot in September.
The decision was a blow to Boeing, which had insisted Starliner was safe based on all recent thruster tests. This was Boeing's first time sending astronauts into space and as Starliner's test pilots, Wilmore and Williams should have overseen the spacecraft's return.
However, flight operations director Norm Knight said he talked to the two astronauts on August 24 and they fully support the decision to postpone their return.
The SpaceX capsule now at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, but NASA said it would be unsafe to squeeze two more into the capsule.
SpaceX's next taxi flight will launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four. NASA is pulling two out to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.
NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing a decade ago to take astronauts to and from the ISS.
SpaceX has completed nine astronaut flights since 2020, while Boeing got bogged down in design flaws that have cost the company over $1 billion. NASA officials still hope that Starliner's problems can be corrected in time for another crewed flight in a year or so.
