2024-08-25 05:01:45
LOS ANGELES, August 24 (Xinhua) — NASA has decided to bring Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth in September, uncrewed, while the two stranded astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will remain at the International Space Station (ISS) until next February, the agency announced on Saturday.
“The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering test data on the Starliner during its upcoming flight back home, without taking on any unnecessary risks for its crew,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 6 aboard the Boeing Starliner. They were scheduled to return to Earth after eight days, but they have been stuck in space for more than two months due to technical issues with the spacecraft.
NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters on June 6, while the Starliner was approaching the space station.
Since then, engineering teams have made efforts to collect data, conduct flight and ground tests, carry out independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and develop several contingency return plans.
NASA stated that Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally until February 2025. They will fly home aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
“The uncertainty and lack of consensus among experts do not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, which led NASA leaders to transfer the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission,” NASA said.
To ensure a docking port is available at the ISS for the Crew-9 mission, the Starliner is expected to make a safe and controlled autonomous reentry and landing in early September, ahead of the Crew-9 mission’s departure, according to NASA.
NASA and Boeing will work together to adjust the mission closeout planning and the Starliner systems to prepare for the uncrewed return in the coming weeks.
The Crew-9 mission, originally scheduled with four crew members, is set to launch no earlier than Tuesday, September 24.
“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft, and ultimately it comes down to the need for a greater level of certainty to achieve a crewed return,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
“The teams at NASA and Boeing have completed a huge amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test is providing critical information about Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will be of great benefit for future corrective measures for the spacecraft,” Stich said.