SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will return astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station in February 2025, NASA announced Saturday.
NASA’s decision is the latest setback for Boeing’s costly and chronically delayed Starliner program and means astronauts’ stay at the International Space Station will be extended to a total of eight months from the originally planned eight days.
Since Boeing first signed a $4.3 billion contract with NASA in 2014, the Starliner project has been more than $1.5 billion over budget, following a series of problems that began with the failure of its first test flight and continued afterward, including faulty parachutes, flammable protective tape, rust buildup, issues with oxygen tank pressure relief valves and, most recently, a helium leak that could damage the craft’s thrusters on the way to Earth.
Starliner’s first manned test flight launched on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starliner team found one helium leak before launch, two more during launch, and two more after docking with the ISS. Since then, NASA and Boeing have been evaluating whether the spacecraft is safe enough to return passengers Williams and Wilmore to Earth. At the time, there were rumors that astronauts could be trapped in space for up to six months.
Boeing maintains that Starliner is capable of transporting Williams and Wilmore safely to Earth, but NASA has said the craft, which is still docked at the ISS, will eventually return to Earth uncrewed.
“Space flight involves risks even at the safest and most routine of times, and test flights are, by their nature, neither safe nor routine,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters on Saturday. Nelson said NASA’s request to keep astronauts on the ISS for a few more months and return Starliner uncrewed is “a reflection of our commitment to safety.”
