NASA Astronauts Launched on Eight-Day Mission Might Have to Remain on the ISS Until February

When NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, they expected to stay for eight days.

But two months and several technical issues later, they’re still 250 miles high—and on Wednesday, NASA officials announced the pair might have to stay put until February 2025 to catch a ride home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

“Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during Wednesday’s teleconference, per BBC News’ Mike Wendling. “However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open.”

NASA and Boeing teams continue analyzing data from recent ground and spacecraft testing as they evaluate the #Starliner spacecraft’s propulsion system during NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission.

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— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) August 1, 2024

Starliner’s mission to the ISS was a “high-stakes” crewed test flight—the final hurdle before NASA could certify it for regular use, reports Reuters’ Joey Roulette. But it had been plagued with problems from the start, enduring years of delays, budget overruns, flawed uncrewed test flights and multiple scrubbed launches before the crewed test took off this summer.

The spacecraft launched at last on June 5, but the excitement surrounding this milestone was short-lived. Though Starliner delivered Wilmore and Williams to the station, it experienced helium leaks and thruster failures, raising doubts about its ability to bring them back to Earth safely. As a result, NASA announced in June that the two astronauts would remain on the ISS until at least July, as the agency reviewed the spacecraft’s readiness for re-entry.

But since then, Boeing’s investigations revealed that four of Starliner’s jets had failed because of overheating, which resulted in an automatic shut-off, per Reuters. Ground tests suggested this excess heat expanded Teflon seals in the thrusters, limiting the flow of propellant. These findings have caused more unease at NASA.

“That, I would say, upped the level of discomfort, and not having a total understanding of the physics of what’s happening,” Stich said at the teleconference, per Reuters.

Now, the space agency is considering saving two seats for Wilmore and Williams on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which would launch in September (a delay from its original date) and return in February 2025. That means two of the four people originally planned to fly on the mission—three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut—would have to stay behind on Earth.

“We have not formally committed to this path, but we wanted to ensure we had all that flexibility in place,” Stich told reporters, per New York Post’s Ronny Reyes.

But the odds of the agency pursuing this option—which would involve returning Starliner to Earth unmanned—“have increased a little bit based on where things have gone over the last week or two,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for space operations at NASA, said at the conference, per BBC News.

This course of action would be a blow to Boeing, which is already facing serious PR problems after various aircraft issues. The aerospace giant has also struggled to compete with SpaceX, which has been shuttling astronauts to and from the space station on Crew Dragon capsules since May 2020.

Per the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe, this mission should have been Boeing’s “opportunity to show that even if panels were falling from its aircraft, it could still fly humans into space and return them safely to Earth.”

But now, a Boeing spokesman recently said in a statement: “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return,” per the New York Times’ Kenneth Chang. He added that “we still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale.”

Wilmore and Williams have reportedly been keeping busy at the ISS, and on Tuesday, NASA sent a routine delivery of food and supplies, including additional clothes for the extra guests. Though NASA has not committed to any return plan yet, it will officially decide on the best way forward sometime next week, per Reuters.

Margherita Bassi | READ MORE

Margherita Bassi is a trilingual storyteller and freelance journalist with a particular interest in ancient history, astronomy and human interest stories.