Elon Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly working on a plan with NASA to fly astronauts stranded by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft home after eight weeks of the crew being in orbit.
“NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning,” NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars Technica after being asked if the crew would return on Starliner or the Dragon spacecraft.
Notably, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams became the first people to launch into orbit inside a Boeing Starliner on June 5. NASA officials initially said the two Starliner crew members could return to Earth as soon as June 14 — just eight days after going into orbit.
Starliner had faced a few problems, such as helium leaks and failing thrusters, but officials downplayed these difficulties, saying they were minor issues.
“Those are pretty small, really, issues to deal with,” Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program, said. “We’ll figure them out for the next mission. I don’t see these as significant at all.”
Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, while NASA and Boeing examined the technical problems further, finding that “the more pressing concern was the failure of multiple reaction control system thrusters that are essential to steering Starliner during its departure from the space station and setting up a critical engine burn to enter Earth’s atmosphere,” Ars Technica reported.
Last week, NASA and Boeing reportedly sent the spacecraft’s thrusters into orbit to check their performance.
While NASA noted that the preliminary results from these tests were helpful, the agency did not comment on what would happen if they would have concluded that Starliner’s thrusters were not reliable enough to return to Earth.
“Our prime option is to complete the mission,” NASA’s program manager for commercial crew, Steve Stich, said last week. “There are a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner.”
“Starliner was designed, as a spacecraft, to have the crew in the cockpit,” Stich added.
Therefore, it is now being speculated that the astronauts may not return to Earth inside Starliner, but instead on the Dragon spacecraft.
One source told Ars Technica that the chance the crew would fly back on the Dragon was greater than 50/50 odds, while a second source said it is significantly more likely than not they would. NASA, however, has yet to make a final decision.
Meanwhile, in NASA meetings this week, there have been robust discussions about whether or not to fly the astronauts home on Starliner, with multiple groups asserting “no” on Starliner as of Wednesday, two sources told Ars Technica.
Some engineers said that while Starliner could probably fly the crew safely back to Earth, the fact that they are even questioning it means that NASA should opt for the Dragon — which has securely launched 13 times and landed 12 times.
But if NASA decides to fly the astronauts home on the Dragon, “it may spell the end of the Starliner program,” Ars Technica noted.
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