During a Press conference Today, NASA officials confirmed that they have a contingency plan in place to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the International Space Station (ISS) early next year. If they can’t depart sooner aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that brought them there, the backup plan would rely on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, whose launch has been delayed while officials decide what to do next.
Following Boeing’s successful crewed launch on June 5 (after several delays), the two astronauts were scheduled to spend a week aboard the ISS before returning to Earth by parachute. However, the Starliner suffered thruster failures and helium leaks during docking with the ISS, in addition to additional delays that have left the astronauts stranded in orbit for more than two months while Boeing and NASA try to determine whether the vehicle is still safe for use.
The June crewed test flight was originally planned to take place seven years ago, and Boeing’s Starliner program has been plagued by significant delays and cost overruns. If SpaceX ends up having to bring the two astronauts back to Earth, it will be yet another misstep for Boeing in a year that included a door stopper exploding on one of its planes during a flight and a guilty plea to a criminal fraud charge.
Testing conducted at NASA's White Sands Test Facility He noted that the Teflon seals were deformed. being a potential cause of the Starliner's thruster failure, but the agency is not expected to make a final decision on whether or not Williams and Wilmore will return using Boeing's spacecraft until mid-August.
According to officials, NASA’s preferred solution remains the Starliner, but Plan B would involve SpaceX sending just two astronauts to the ISS aboard a Crew-9 launch in late September, leaving two spots available for Williams and Wilmore to use for a return in February of next year. If that happens, Boeing will reconfigure the Starliner craft so it can return to Earth uncrewed before SpaceX’s Crew-9 launch.
