NASA announced that astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft in February next year.
The announcement at today’s press conference ends months of speculation about the best plan to safely return astronauts to Earth after a malfunction on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft caused its departure from the International Space Station to be postponed in June. Now, NASA has decided to send Starliner home with Wilmore and Williams. They will remain with the existing space station crew and are scheduled to return on SpaceX’s Crew 9 mission next year.
“Boeing has worked hard with NASA to obtain the data necessary to make this decision,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a press conference. “We want to further understand the root causes and understand where design improvements can be made to ensure Boeing Starliner can be a vital part of ensuring crew access to the ISS.”
Wilmore and Williams launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5, becoming the first astronauts to fly on a manned test flight of Starliner, a capsule developed by Boeing for transporting crewed passengers to the International Space Station.
During approach to the space station, five of Starliner’s 28 thrusters stopped functioning, but the crew was able to repair four of them and successfully dock with the space station, where they discovered that Starliner’s propulsion system was also leaking helium in multiple places.
Wilmore and Williams were originally scheduled to stay on the ISS for about a week before returning to Earth aboard Starliner. But their return was delayed by more than two months as mission planners struggled to determine the cause of the thruster issues and assess the risk of using Starliner for the return flight. Under NASA’s plan, they will stay on the ISS for a total of eight months, which is longer than the usual six-month stay but not unprecedented.
NASA has emphasized that Wilmore and Williams are not “stranded” or in any danger, and the astronauts have publicly framed the extension as a blessing that will allow them more time in space.
“We’re having a lot of fun up here,” Williams told reporters by phone from the ISS in July. “Butch and I have been here before, so it feels like we’re coming home. It feels good to be floating. It feels good to be in space and working with the team on the International Space Station.”
The cargo ship docks with the ISS regularly and carries enough supplies for the entire crew, and NASA considers Starliner safe enough for astronauts to use in the event of an emergency evacuation from the ISS.
Starliner has flown twice so far without astronauts on board: its first uncrewed test flight in 2019 failed to reach the ISS, but a second test in 2022 successfully docked with the ISS and landed at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It is the second vehicle to carry astronauts to the space station, following SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which aims to develop a commercially operated spacecraft for transporting crew to and from the ISS.
SpaceX’s Dragon completed its first crewed test flight in 2020 and received certification from NASA to proceed to scheduled operational flights with astronauts on board. Over the past four years, Dragon has successfully transported 12 crew members to and from the ISS. From the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle in 2011 until Dragon’s first crewed mission in 2020, NASA and other agencies relied entirely on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to the ISS. The Commercial Crew Program is designed to support ISS operations with multiple spacecraft transportation options in case one spacecraft fails.
Starliner has had many setbacks in the past: Many of the spacecraft’s tests so far have been marred by delays, and the project has gone over budget, costing it more than $1.5 billion.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
