NASA is contemplating partnering with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring its two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, home due to lingering concerns about Boeing’s Starliner capsule, despite Boeing’s assurance that the spacecraft is capable to perform the task.
In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Steve Stich, program director for NASA’s publicity team, said the project has not yet decided on a return date for the Starliner team and showed that the local company was reading the use of SpaceX’s Crew-9. Dragon as a backup plan. Formation
“Our main option is to bring Butch and Sunny back to Starliner. However, we have made the necessary plans to ensure that other features are open. We’ve been working with SpaceX to make sure they’re in a position to respond with Crew-9 in the event of an emergency,” Stich said.
“We don’t have to just bring a team back to Starliner, for example. We can bring them back to a vehicle,” added Kenneth Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for area operations.
NASA is a backup plan that would tread SpaceX’s Crew-9 vehicle with sending the Starliner team back, potentially extending the project from 10 days to 8 months, with a return in February 2025. Although no final resolution has been taken, this option is now on the table.
“We don’t officially dedicate ourselves to that, but we try to make sure we have all that flexibility,” Stich said.
Starliner has already been docked to the ISS for seven weeks longer than expected due to propellant failures and helium leaks, delaying its return to Earth. Since then, the return has been postponed several times while ground teams work to identify faults and test the thrusters on Earth.
These disruptions led NASA to delay its next project to the ISS, giving the Boeing capsule more time to remain docked to the space station while its problems are resolved. SpaceX’s Crew-9 flight, scheduled for this month and consisting of 4 people, has been pushed back to September 24 at the earliest.
Only two docking ports to the ISS can accommodate U. S. spacecraft, and both are busy lately: one via Starliner and the other via SpaceX’s Crew-8 Dragon capsule. Therefore, one will have to be released before the next SpaceX team can arrive. its own parking lot for its Soyuz capsules.
Bowersox said the company is looking to “rely on the data” to evaluate Starliner’s return. “When we started this mission, it was a verification mission. We knew it potentially posed a greater risk,” he said.
NASA’s contingency plans involving SpaceX, Boeing’s main rival in the publicity team’s program, would have angered the already suffering aerospace giant. Boeing supports the Starliner spacecraft and is confident it can carry astronauts back to Earth, but some at NASA are reportedly becoming more skeptical as the project drags on with no end in sight.
Tensions flared last week when officials could agree to use the Starliner to bring back Wilmore and Williams, leading to the postponement of a review of the ship’s readiness, according to a Wednesday report in the Wall Street Journal.
The current problems with Starliner have not only delayed the return of the crew, but also have significant monetary implications for Boeing. The Starliner program has already generated about $1. 5 billion in costs due to setbacks over the years.
The potential embarrassment of SpaceX’s intervention would be just one more challenge on the list of headaches that new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg will inherit when he takes the helm on Thursday. Ortberg’s mandate is to turn around the long-suffering aerospace giant, which has been under intense scrutiny lately due to persistent production challenges for its 737 Max passenger jets.
Jesus is a reporter for Newsweek Live News founded in New York City. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, he focuses on existing occasions and trends. He has covered global politics, migration, pop culture, and sports. Jesus joined Newsweek’s U. S. bureau. In the past he worked for the Financial Times and was a foreign journalist and editor-in-chief of the newsletter El Espectador in Colombia. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and virtual innovation from New York University. Languages: English, Spanish.
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