Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station in June on board the Boeing Starliner
Indian-born astronaut Sunita Williams and her NASA colleague Butch Wilmore, who reached the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard the troubled Boeing Starliner, will return home next year with billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The two veteran astronauts launched to the ISS on June 5 for what is expected to be an eight-day test mission. But their homecoming was delayed for weeks due to engine malfunctions on the Boeing spacecraft, and NASA announced Saturday that they will return to Earth in February next year. Starliner will return to Earth unmanned.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the decision to keep the two astronauts on the space station and return the Starliner unmanned was “the result of our commitment to safety,” adding: “Our core value is safety.”
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on the International Space Station
Image credit: x.com/BoeingSpace
“Space flights are risky even in their safest and most routine forms,” he told reporters. “A test flight is inherently neither safe nor routine.”
Setbacks for the Boeing Starliner
After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner finally lifted off on June 5, carrying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, both former military test pilots, to the space station. But a day later, as Starliner approached the ISS, NASA and Boeing discovered helium leaks and problems with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters.
Hugs for everyone! The crew of Expedition 71 greets Butch Wilmore and @Astro_Suni on board @Spacestation after #Starliner docked on June 6 at 1:34 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/wQZAYy2LGH
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 6, 2024
Five of the Starliner’s 28 engines failed during the flight and there were several leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the engines. The Starliner was still able to dock with the space station, which has hosted rotating crews of astronauts for more than two decades.
However, NASA feared that the capsule would not achieve the necessary thrust to return to Earth and decided to transfer the two astronauts to a SpaceX mission and return the Starliner empty.
“The unmanned return will allow NASA and Boeing to continue collecting test data during Starliner’s upcoming return flight while not putting the crew at greater risk than necessary,” the US space agency said.
NASA will return @BoeingSpace‘S #Starliner to earth without @NASA_Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board the spaceship.
The unmanned return will allow NASA and Boeing to continue collecting test data during the Starliner’s upcoming return flight without… pic.twitter.com/wkXX0qQXkq
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) 24 August 2024
The Starliner will now undock from the ISS without a crew at the beginning of September.
How Elon Musk’s SpaceX will help Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore
As part of a restructuring of NASA’s astronaut operations, Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore will now return to Earth aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
According to the new plan, the SpaceX Crew-9 mission will launch in late September after the Starliner has flown toward Earth and cleared a docking site at the ISS.
However, only two passengers will be carried instead of the originally planned four to make room for Mrs Williams and Mr Wilmore.
In February, the SpaceX vehicle is scheduled to bring back the two stranded colleagues and their crew.
(With agency contributions)
