SpaceX Goes High: NASA Returns Boeing Starliner to Earth Without Astronauts

NASA has decided to return the Boeing Starliner to Earth out of service, prioritizing safety after learning about issues such as helium leaks.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will remain on the ISS until 2025, will return by way. SpaceX‘s Dragon spacecraft. This strategic choice reflects NASA’s commitment to safety and allows continued data collection to improve future Starliner operations.

Uncrewed Starliner Return Decision

NASA will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, the agency announced Saturday. The inactive return allows NASA and Boeing to continue collecting test data on the Starliner during its next flight, while not accepting more than necessary risk to its crew.

Wilmore and Williams, who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, have been busy supporting the station’s research, maintenance, and Starliner system testing and data analysis. among other activities.

Commitment to Safety and Testing

“Spaceflight is dangerous, even in its safe and normal practice. Test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard International Space Station and bringing Boeing’s Starliner home intact is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Thank you to the NASA and Boeing teams for their work all of them amazing and detailed.”

Wilmore and Williams will continue their work as part of the Expedition 71/72 team until February 2025. They will fly home on a Dragon spacecraft with two other members assigned to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to leave the space station for a safe, controlled landing and landing in early September.

Starliner Problems and Solutions

NASA and Boeing identified a helium leak and had problems with air traffic controllers on June 6 as the Starliner approached the space station. Since then, the engineering teams have completed a large amount of work, including analyzing data collection, conducting aerial and ground tests, conducting independent audits with institutional performance experts, and create different contingency plans for return. Uncertainty and lack of expert consensus do not meet the safety and operational requirements of the agency for human spaceflight, thus prompting NASA’s leadership to move astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.

“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our teams at NASA and Boeing for their thorough review, open discussions, and focus on safety during Flight Test of Personnel,” said Ken Bowersox, deputy director of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Division. “We learned a lot about the spacecraft during the journey to the station and its stationary operation. We will continue to gather more information about the Starliner during its inactive return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, agency leaders and Boeing executives discussed the first Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission on the International Space Station during a briefing on August 24. Boeing launched astronauts of NASA Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in International Space. The station in June boarded its Starliner. After another test of the vehicle’s systems, Starliner will return to idle in September and Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the space station until February as members of the Expedition. The two will return to Earth on SpaceX’s Dragon in February. Credit: NASA

Preparing for Future Careers

The Starliner is designed to be self-sustaining and complete the two idler planes. NASA and Boeing will work together to finalize the mission plan and Starliner’s operations in preparation for the unmanned return in the coming weeks. The Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew-9 mission begins to ensure that the docking station is in place.

“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft, and, ultimately, it needs to have a high level of crew retrievability,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The NASA and Boeing teams have completed a great deal of testing and testing, and this flight test provides important information about Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for a safe return.” and it will greatly help future maintenance steps for the spacecraft.”

NASA’s Commercial Crew program requires the spacecraft to fly a crew test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from space. After Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related information to determine what additional steps are needed to meet NASA’s certification requirements.

The mission of the SpaceX Crew-9, which was originally planned with four crew members, will not begin before Tuesday, September 24. The agency will share more information about the crew of Crew-9 when the details are completed.

NASA and SpaceX are currently working on several things before launch, including adjusting the seats on the Crew-9 Dragon, and adjusting the display to accommodate additional cargo, personal effects, and special spacesuits for of Wilmore and Williams. In addition, NASA and SpaceX will now use new facilities at Space Launch Complex-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to launch Crew-9, providing additional operational flexibility around the strategy and NASA’s Europa Clipper project.

The Crew-9 mission will be the ninth mission to orbit the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which works with the U.S. aerospace industry to achieve the goals of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation. more to and from the US orbital base. -made rockets and spacecraft produced on American soil.

For more than two decades, people have lived and worked non-stop inside the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research progress unprecedented. possible on Earth. The station is an important experiment for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth space. As commercial companies focus on providing space transportation services for people and their destinations as part of the low-energy economy of Earth’s orbit, NASA’s Artemis mission and continues on the Moon where the agency prepares for future human testing. Mars.