NASA has announced that the two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) will return to Earth on a SpaceX flight in February 2025.
Pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams and Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched on June 5 in Boeing’s new spacecraft and were to dock at the ISS.
Due to problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system, the NASA The astronauts’ return to Earth was repeatedly postponed. They were now there for more than two months.
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a press conference on Saturday that a manned return with the Starliner would be too dangerous and that the two astronauts would be safest on the space station.
“Space flights are risky,” he said. “Even when they are at their safest and even when they are at their most routine. A test flight is inherently neither safe nor routine.”
Deputy Administrator Jim Free added: “The uncertainty regarding our (technology) margins was the reason for our decision.”
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Image: NASA / AP
Starliner will now undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot. The two astronauts are expected to return in February on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled to launch next month as part of a routine astronaut rotation mission.
Both Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore are “fully supportive” of the plan and the SpaceX crew will make the necessary adjustments.
Many of the engines in the Starliner’s propulsion system overheated during ignition, and leaks of the helium used to pressurize the engines appear to be related to the frequency of their use, Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew manager, previously explained.
At the press conference on Saturday, Stitch said: “The bottom line was that there were just too many uncertainties surrounding the engines’ prediction of when the Starliner would return.”
“If we had a model – if we had a way to predict exactly what the engines would do during undocking and throughout the deorbit burn and during the separation sequence, I think we would have acted differently.
“But when we looked at the data and considered the potential for engine failure with a crew on board … the risk to the crew was just too great..“
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