The POT revealed on Wednesday that they are evaluating the possibility of bringing back the two astronauts from the Starliner ship, Boeingin February 2025 and aboard a Dragon capsule from the firm SpaceX.
The two crew members of Boeing’s first manned space mission, veteran NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, today complete 63 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), almost seven weeks longer than planned, due to technical problems with the Starliner.
During a teleconference, executives of the US space agency indicated that there is still no return date for both of them and announced that they are considering the option of returning in February 2025 in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, or even in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The agency expects to make a decision on the use of Dragon by the middle of this month, and if it chooses this option, Crew 9 would be sent to the ISS with two crew members instead of four, as is usual on crew rotation missions on the ISS.
The two remaining seats on Crew 9, which is scheduled to launch on Sept. 24, would be reserved for Wilmore and Williams, who would then have to remain in the orbiting laboratory for an additional six months.
“We have not yet made a decision on the return of Butch and Suni. We have a very tight time frame and are working hard with all the entities involved, with the teams at Boeing, NASA and SpaceX.”NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said in a teleconference today.
He said that “the right choice will be made at the right time” once all the options for the crew’s return have been evaluated.
“Although there are several scenarios open,” the NASA executive added, the first option remains the return of Wilmore and Williams on the Starliner.
Dana Weigel, deputy program manager for NASA’s International Space Station, said a “contingency plan” was currently being developed, but no decision had yet been made on the return dates for the two astronauts or the vehicle that would be used.
NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams were due to return to Earth on June 14, just eight days after their launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but thruster failures and small helium leaks on the Starliner have prevented their return.
NASA and Boeing engineers are continuing to conduct tests on Starliner’s 27 thrusters at White Sands, New Mexico, to “understand the root cause of their degradation” and “how this may impact crew return.”
“The team is working to reduce uncertainty and reach consensus on the best option, with the goal of bringing Starliner’s crew home as soon as possible,” Stich said today.
NASA and SpaceX announced on Tuesday that the launch of the Crew-9 manned mission, initially scheduled for August 18, will now take place on September 24.
This adjustment will allow more time to complete testing and planning for the return of the first manned mission, called Crew Flight Test, of the Starliner, which seeks to obtain NASA certifications so that the ship can function as a second transportation provider to the ISS, as SpaceX already does.