NASA has decided to return the Boeing Starliner to Earth unmanned, giving safety top priority after problems such as helium leaks were discovered.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will stay on the ISS until 2025, will be SpaceX‘s Dragon spacecraft. This strategic decision reflects NASA’s commitment to safety and allows for continuous data collection to improve the Starliner’s future performance.
Decision on the unmanned return of the Starliner
NASA will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, the agency announced Saturday. The uncrewed return will allow NASA and Boeing to continue collecting test data during the Starliner’s upcoming flight home while not taking more risks than necessary for the crew.
Wilmore and Williams, who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight test aircraft, were involved in supporting station research, maintenance, and Starliner system testing and data analysis, among other tasks.
Commitment to safety and testing
“Spaceflights are risky, even at their safest and most routine. A test flight is inherently neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni on board International Space Station and bringing Boeing’s Starliner home unmanned is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our guiding light,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “I am grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for their incredible and detailed work.”
Wilmore and Williams will officially continue their work as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew until February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to lift off from the space station and perform a safe, controlled autonomous reentry and landing in early September.
Challenges and solutions for Starliner
NASA and Boeing discovered helium leaks and problems with the spacecraft’s reaction control engines on June 6 during Starliner’s approach to the space station. Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing a data collection, conducting flight and ground tests, conducting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans. The uncertainty and lack of expert judgment do not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, prompting NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.
“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our NASA and Boeing teams for their thorough analysis, transparent discussions and focus on safety during the Crew Flight Test,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “We learned a lot about the spacecraft during its journey to the station and its docked operations. We will continue to collect more data on Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.”
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, agency executives and Boeing managers discussed the plan going forward for the Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station during an Aug. 24 briefing. Boeing sent NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station aboard its Starliner spacecraft in June. After further analysis of the vehicle’s propulsion system, Starliner will return uncrewed in September and Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the space station as expedition members through February. The duo will return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon in February. Image credit: NASA
Preparing for future missions
Starliner is designed for autonomous operation and has already completed two unmanned flights. NASA and Boeing will work together in the coming weeks to adjust Starliner’s end-of-mission planning and systems and prepare for its unmanned return. Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew-9 mission launches to ensure a docking slot is available on the station.
“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft, and ultimately a higher level of safety is required for a crewed return,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “The NASA and Boeing teams have conducted a tremendous amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test provides important information on Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program requires spacecraft to complete a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the space station. After the Starliner returns, the agency will review all mission-related data to determine what additional actions are needed to meet NASA’s certification requirements.
The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, originally planned with four crew members, will launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24. The agency will announce more information on the Crew-9 lineup once details are finalized.
NASA and SpaceX are currently working on several things ahead of launch, including reconfiguring the seats on the Crew-9 Dragon and adjusting the cargo manifest to carry additional cargo, personal items and Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams. In addition, NASA and SpaceX will now use new facilities at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to launch Crew-9, providing greater operational flexibility around the planned launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper.
The Crew-9 mission will be the ninth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which, in partnership with the American aerospace industry, achieves the goal of safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost using U.S.-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, enabling research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is an important test bed for NASA to understand and address the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. While commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA’s Artemis campaign is underway on the Moon, where the agency is preparing for future human exploration of the moon. Mars.
