Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon Capsule in February instead of the Boeing Starliner, which took them to the International Space Station.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the news at a press conference on Saturday, ending months of speculation about how long the astronauts would remain in limbo.
The Starliner will instead be operated by ISS This will allow NASA and Boeing to determine the root causes of the disruptions and continue to incorporate the spacecraft into the space agency’s plans to maintain access to the ISS, he added.
“Spaceflight is risky even in its safest and most routine phases. And a test flight is inherently neither safe nor routine,” Nelson said, adding, “Our core values are safety and it is our guiding light.”
The two astronauts have been on board the ISS since June, while the mission was originally scheduled to last only eight days. The test flight was the first time Boeing’s Starliner carried astronauts after earlier tests were canceled.
But a Helium leak and engine malfunction on the Starliner kept them in space for months while NASA and Boeing considered ways to bring them back. Despite the months-long delay, NASA has maintained that the astronauts not “stranded” on the ISS.
“The bottom line is that the engines’ prediction was just too uncertain,” said Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew program, on Saturday, referring to the undocking procedure, the deorbit burn and the separation sequence. “It was just too much of a risk for the crew.”
The Starliner will undock and land in early September. The SpaceX mission that will bring Williams and Wilmore back – called Crew 9 – is scheduled to launch in late September with two astronauts on board, leaving two more seats open for Williams and Wilmore, according to NASA.
They will return months later, making their total time in space eight months if all goes according to plan. During their additional time in orbit, Williams and Wilmore will continue to conduct experiments and maintenance.
“Boeing remains primarily focused on crew and spacecraft safety,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We are executing the mission as defined by NASA and preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”
While NASA’s decision to use a SpaceX capsule instead of the Starliner is a blow to Boeing, Norm Knight, director of NASA space operations, said the Starliner is a “robust” vehicle with “excellent flight characteristics” and has performed well overall.
On August 2, Boeing said it was confident its spacecraft could bring Williams and Wilmore back. But on August 7, NASA announced that talks had evolved and said it was more seriously considering SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which has been carrying astronauts to the ISS and back for four years.
When asked how NASA could restore trust in Boeing, NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Free said Saturday there was no trust problem.
“I think we look at the data and look at it and the uncertainty around it differently than Boeing does,” he said. “It’s not a question of trust. It’s our technical know-how and experience that we have to balance.”
Ken Bowersox, NASA’s deputy director of space operations, acknowledged that there have been many tense discussions. “So people are emotionally attached to both options, and that allows for a healthy discourse.”
Nelson said he was “100 percent” confident that Boeing would launch another manned mission with the Starliner in the future, citing the collaboration between NASA and the company.
What complicates NASA’s decision on Saturday to use SpaceX, however, is the fact that Wilmore and Williams’ spacesuits compatible with the Starliner, but not with the Dragon capsule.
Stich said there is already a spacesuit on the ISS that one of the astronauts could use for the return flight, and the Crew-9 mission will bring another suit.
This is a feature of a broader NASA strategy shift that began a decade ago when the space agency decided to rely more heavily on the emerging private sector.
After the Space Shuttle fleet was decommissioned, NASA awards fixed-price contracts to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 to launch astronauts into space and back. The contract with Boeing was worth $4.2 billion and the one with SpaceX was worth $2.6 billion.