NASA has decided it’s too risky to return two astronauts to Earth in Boeing’s new, troubled capsule. They’ll have to wait until next year for a flight home with SpaceX. What was supposed to be a week-long test flight for the pair will now take more than eight months.
The experienced pilots have been stuck on the International Space Station since early June. A series of annoying engine failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern while engineers ran tests and discussed what to do for the return flight.
After nearly three months, the decision finally came from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return in a SpaceX capsule in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return with an autopilot landing in the New Mexico desert.
As test pilots of the Starliner, the two were supposed to monitor this critical final leg of the journey.
“A test flight is by nature neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The decision was “the result of a commitment to safety.”
Nelson said lessons from NASA’s two space shuttle accidents played a role. This time, he noted, open dialogue was encouraged rather than stifled.
“This was not an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” added NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Free.
It was a major blow to Boeing, adding to the company’s aircraft safety concerns. Boeing had been banking on Starliner’s first crewed flight to revive the troubled spacecraft program after years of delays and spiraling costs. The company had insisted that Starliner was safe both in space and on the ground based on all of its recent engine tests.
Boeing did not attend NASA’s press conference on Saturday, but issued a statement: “Boeing remains primarily focused on crew and spacecraft safety.” The company said it was preparing the spacecraft “for a safe and successful return.”
Rand Corp.’s Jan Osburg, a senior engineer specializing in aerospace and defense, said NASA made the right choice. “But the U.S. still faces embarrassment because there are problems with the Starliner design that should have been identified earlier.”
Mr. Wilmore, 61, and Ms. Williams, 58, are both retired Navy captains with extensive experience in spaceflight. Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, they said their families had accepted the uncertainty and stress of their careers decades ago.
During their only orbital press conference last month, the astronauts said they had confidence in the engine tests being conducted. They had no complaints, they added, and they enjoyed helping with work on the space station.
Deanna, Mr Wilmore’s wife, said she and their daughters, as well as their family and friends, were “praying for a safe return on whatever spacecraft he takes.” Although they were disappointed he would be gone longer, “we know it is God’s plan,” she wrote by text message.
Flight operations manager Norm Knight said he spoke to the astronauts on Saturday and they fully supported the decision to delay their return.
There were few options.
The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their routine six-month stay extended by a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA said it would be too dangerous to squeeze two more into the capsule except in an emergency.
The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even more cramped, as it can only carry three passengers – two of them Russians who are currently completing their one-year mission.
So Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams will have to wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight, which is scheduled to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four. NASA is taking two off to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.
NASA said there was no serious consideration of asking SpaceX to conduct a quick, stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian space agency had to rush a replacement capsule for three men whose original spacecraft was damaged by space debris. The switch extended their six-month mission to just over a year.
Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA is not giving up on Boeing. Mr Nelson said he was “100 percent” sure the Starliner would fly again.
A decade ago, NASA launched its commercial crew program with the desire to contract two competing American companies to transport astronauts in the post-shuttle era. Boeing won the larger contract: over $4 billion, while SpaceX won $2.6 billion.
SpaceX has already completed supply flights to the station and successfully completed its first of now nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing has been mired in design flaws that have cost the company more than a billion dollars. NASA officials still hope the Starliner’s problems can be fixed in time for another crewed flight in about a year.
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