In the face of problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, two astronauts who travelled to the International Space Station in June and spent there about 80 days will finally return to Earth in February in a capsule built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The long-awaited NASA decision means the astronauts have to stay on the International Space Station until February. However, seeking SpaceX’s assistance is also a crushing blow to Boeing’s already struggling Starliner programme, which has previously encountered delays and technical problems.
The agency turned to its trusted partner SpaceX, which has been successfully providing taxi services to and from the station for several years. The SpaceX capsule was already scheduled to depart for the station next month, with its return flight in February. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the news conference on Saturday that the decision came in the context of NASA officials knowing that past mistakes had led to the loss of two space shuttles and their crews. He said:
Nasa has decided that Butch and Suni will return with [SpaceX’s] Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed. I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with Nasa to get the necessary data to make this decision. We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS. Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine, and a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine, and so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams supported the agency’s decision, even though it means more time away from their loved ones on Earth, according to the director of flight operations at NASA. SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission will launch no earlier than 24 September.
The intervention of a rival company on a significant and iconic mission comes as an embarrassing development for aerospace giant Boeing, which has long had difficulties with Starliner. Criticism towards NASA immediately erupted and prompted a number of comments on the decision to resort to commercial SpaceX.
Erik Seedhouse, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in turn noted that it was ‘very embarrassing’ for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, astronauts who flew to the ISS on the Starliner, to return on a SpaceX craft. Cai von Rumohr, an aeronautics analyst at TD Cowen, adding that the case could jeopardise future contracts with NASA.
In 2019, Starliner’s first uncrewed test flight didn’t even make it to the station. A second test flight in 2022 deemed successful, but engineers later discovered troubling problems, such as the use of flammable duct tape. Fixing these problems delayed the first flight with astronauts. In addition, Boeing received significantly more money than SpaceX to develop the space taxi. Although the Starliner has yet to make a manned round trip to the ISS, SpaceX has flown a number of manned missions for NASA.
