Boeing’s two Starliner astronauts may learn their fates in the next two weeks, but for now, NASA doesn’t know when they’ll return. So while the space agency’s brightest and brightest work with Boeing engineers to continue evaluating ground test data from the Starliner system, the spacecraft’s crew of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain on the International Space Station (ISS) awaiting a final decision.
Butch and Suni launched to the ISS on June 5 aboard Starliner for the spacecraft’s Crew Flight Test (CFT). Their mission, which will complete the first crewed test cruise of Boeing’s commercial crew vehicle, was originally scheduled to last only about 10 days, but could now be extended to up to eight months, potentially returning in 2025.
Initially delayed by a minor helium leak, Starliner’s orbital insertion went off without incident. However, as the spacecraft approached the ISS the next day, Starliner experienced a malfunction in five of the vehicle’s 28 reaction control thrusters (RCS). As a result, NASA and Boeing have extended Butch and Suni’s stay on the space station indefinitely while teams on the ground work to better understand what went wrong. NASA officials now say they expect to make a final decision on the crew’s return by the last week of August.
NASA said in a previous update that it would bring in additional propulsion experts to further evaluate the Starliner issues, officials confirmed in a call with reporters Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 14). “We’ve brought in people from the robotic spaceflight community at Glenn. [Research Center] And at JPL’s Goddard Space Flight Center. They’re used to analyzing propulsion systems when a spacecraft is millions of miles away, and they’ve provided us with useful information,” Ken Bowersachs, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during the briefing.
Emily Nelson, NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate chief flight officer, also participated in the call and emphasized the importance of “bringing in experts who have a completely different perspective as we look at the data that we’re collecting and trying to understand what we don’t understand.”
While experts scrutinize Starliner’s propulsion data, NASA has also made some contingency plans. In the event of an emergency on the ISS, Butch and Suni currently have permission to use Starliner to evacuate the space station, but beyond that, NASA is not comfortable enough to give the spacecraft permission to return to Earth.
With Starliner’s departure from the space station delayed, NASA has had to postpone other scheduled flights to the orbiting lab. SpaceX’s Crew-9 launch, originally scheduled for this month, is now scheduled for late September, and the 31st Cargo Dragon resupply mission has been pushed back to mid-October. And to avoid a traffic jam of incoming spacecraft, Starliner will have to undock from the station before Crew-9 arrives—whether or not it departs with a crew on board.
In the “or not,” NASA is prepared to launch the Crew-9 mission with just two astronauts (or astronauts), ultimately adding Butch and Suni as official crew members aboard Expeditions 71 and 72. In that case, the Starliner would undock from the space station with its cabin empty, perform a deorbit burn and reentry without Butch and Suni aboard, and undergo a nominal parachute deployment, landing, and recovery. Butch and Suni would then be assigned new seats aboard the Crew-9 Dragon and return to Earth at the end of that mission’s rotation, which would likely be sometime in February 2025.
“It’s a pretty important discussion to make about whether or not we’re going to put a crew on Starliner and bring it back,” Bowersox said Wednesday by phone. “The most important thing we’re looking at is the propulsion system,” he said. “Our biggest concern is having a successful deorbit burn. [propellant] “The system operates as required even during deorbit burnout.”
After completing the core data analysis, NASA plans to conduct a flight readiness review, which could begin as early as next week. In the meantime, Starliner astronauts are patiently waiting for a final decision.
According to NASA’s Chief Astronaut Joe Acaba, Butch and Suni have been on the ISS for several weeks longer than expected, lending a hand as much as they can to help with routine station operations and appear to be enjoying the extra time in orbit. “The agency is taking its time right now to make sure we’re not putting the crew at risk any longer than necessary,” Acaba said during a Wednesday briefing, adding, “As an astronaut, it’s always worth the wait.”
