NASA has announced that two astronauts currently on an extended stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will return to Earth in February on a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight, rather than on the Boeing Starliner capsule that brought them to orbit.
The decision comes after an agency-level review on Saturday, which included NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The change in plans is due to ongoing technical issues with the Boeing Starliner, including small leaks and thruster failures.
"NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with [SpaceX's] Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed," Nelson stated during a press conference. He emphasized that Boeing has worked closely with NASA to provide necessary data for this decision, adding, "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."
Astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore have been on the ISS since June 6, initially as part of a crucial test flight for the Starliner before it could receive NASA approval for routine flights. However, their planned eight-day mission extended into months due to technical issues, including reaction control thrusters that failed during Starliner's first docking attempt.
Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's commercial crew program, explained the rationale behind bringing Starliner back uncrewed: "The bottom line relative to bringing Starliner back is … there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters."
While awaiting their return, Williams and Wilmore will continue to contribute to science and maintenance tasks on the ISS. Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's ISS program, noted, "They've already done about 100 hours of work on 42 different experiments, and they've helped us with some of the critical station maintenance that we've had on board."
NASA officials stressed that the decision to switch to SpaceX for the astronauts' return is not a matter of trust with Boeing. Jim Free, NASA associate administrator, stated, "I don't think it's a trust issue at all. I don't think we're rebuilding trust. I think we're looking at the data, and we view the data and the uncertainty that's there differently than Boeing does."
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than September 24. NASA and SpaceX are currently working on several preparatory tasks, including seat reconfiguration on the Crew-9 Dragon and adjusting the manifest to accommodate additional cargo and personal effects for Wilmore and Williams.
