NASA decided Saturday that it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s new capsule, so they’ll have to wait until SpaceX picks them up next year. What was supposed to have been a weeklong test ride for the pair will now last more than eight months.
The experienced pilots have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since early June. A series of annoying thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on the new capsule marred their trip to the ISS, and they ended up in a holding pattern while engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the return trip.
After nearly three months, the decision was finally made on Saturday by NASA’s top executives. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return in February, on a SpaceX ship. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot to touch down in the New Mexico desert.
As Starliner test pilots, the pair would have overseen this critical final leg of the journey. “By its nature, a test flight is neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “So the decision … is a compromise for safety.” “This was not an easy decision, but it was absolutely the right one,” added NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.
Boeing is hurt by the ruling, which raises more safety issues for its aerospace sector. After years of setbacks and cost overruns, Boeing had been hoping that the first crewed flight of the Starliner would bring the problematic program back online. After conducting several thruster tests both in orbit and on Earth, the corporation had maintained that Starliner was safe.
Boeing did not participate in NASA’s Saturday press conference, but issued a statement: “Boeing continues to focus first on the safety of the crew and the spacecraft. We are conducting missions as determined by NASA and are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”