NASA is expected to announce on Saturday the planned trajectory of the Boeing Starliner astronauts’ return, meaning they will have spent 80 days in space already — 10 times longer than their original eight-day stay.
The space agency is expected to announce whether the capsule has been deemed safe enough to return astronauts from the International Space Station, or whether the astronauts will have to return aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other top officials are scheduled to attend an agency-level meeting in Houston to discuss the plan ahead of the announcement. The agency announced this..
“NASA’s decision on whether to return Starliner with astronauts on board to Earth is expected to be made no later than Saturday, August 24, following the completion of an agency-level review,” the space agency said in a statement.
Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched June 5 aboard Boeing’s Starliner, the spacecraft’s first crewed flight, for an eight-day mission that was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station. Saturday’s announcement marks their 80th day in space.
But thruster failures and helium leaks quickly plagued the test flight, forcing NASA to park the capsule at the space station while engineers scrambled to find a solution.
Boeing has tried for months to ease NASA’s concerns about the Starliner issue, pointing out that extensive propulsion tests in space and on the ground show the spacecraft is capable of returning astronauts safely.
NASA has been weighing the data against its low risk tolerance for the mission – one of four Starliner flights that have suffered accidents since 2019.
As a backup plan, NASA has two seats open on SpaceX’s upcoming Crew Dragon mission that Wilmore and Williams could return in, provided they can get suitable spacesuits.
If SpaceX’s contingency plan goes ahead, Wilmore and Williams won’t be able to return until the end of their mission in February 2025. Starliner, meanwhile, is scheduled to attempt an empty return to Earth next month.
But if NASA determines Starliner is safe for astronauts, the capsule will return them sooner, possibly sometime next month, freeing up a docking port on the ISS for the SpaceX mission.
With post wire
