NASA’s Starliner Astronauts Will Return on SpaceX Craft in February, Turning an Eight-Day Mission Into Eight Months on the ISS

For NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, what was supposed to be an eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has officially turned into an eight-month odyssey.

The decision comes after the American space agency deemed a return to Earth on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft too risky, given the helium leaks and thruster issues it faced when it transported the pair of astronauts to the station at the beginning of June.

“The uncertainty and lack of expert concurrence does not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight,” NASA says in a statement. Instead, Wilmore and Williams will catch a ride home on a SpaceX Dragon in February 2025. Agency officials announced the change during a press conference on Saturday.

Boeing’s Starliner will now make an autonomous and uncrewed return to Earth in early September to free a docking port for the SpaceX craft, which will be used for NASA’s Crew-9 mission. The return is a “critical last leg of the journey,” which originally would have been overseen by Wilmore and Williams, writes Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press. It should have also been the final hurdle before NASA approved the Boeing spacecraft for regular use, Reuters’ Joey Roulette wrote earlier this month.

“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says in the statement. “The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety.”

Engineering teams have been working throughout the summer to understand the cause behind the helium leaks, as well as why five of Starliner’s 28 reaction control thrusters malfunctioned as it approached and docked at the ISS on June 6, per Space.com’s Monisha Ravisetti. The work has included reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting reviews with agency propulsion experts and developing various contingency plans for the crew’s return, per NASA.

The investigations revealed that overheating caused some of the jets to automatically shut off, and ground tests suggested the heat may have warped Teflon seals in the thrusters, weakening them and restricting the flow of propellant, reports Reuters.

“I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision,” Nelson said during the press conference, per the Guardian’s Maya Yang. “We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.”

The “Starliner drama,” as NBC News’ Denise Chow calls it, is a serious blow for Boeing, which has been struggling to compete against SpaceX in the space industry while handling an intense scrutiny of its aircraft business. In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract and SpaceX a similar $2.6 billion contract to build vehicles for its Commercial Crew Program, which would transport the agency’s astronauts to and from the ISS.

A decade later, Boeing is more than $1.5 billion over budget and way behind schedule in the Starliner program—and now, its astronauts need to hitch a ride on a spacecraft manufactured by the company’s main competitor.

Boeing representatives were not present at Saturday’s press conference, but the company released a statement restating its commitment to “the safety of the crew and spacecraft.” Boeing added that it is now “executing the mission as determined by NASA … preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

In the meantime, NASA reports that Wilmore and Williams have been participating in ISS activities, including supporting research and station maintenance. Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, tells the AP that she and the family are “praying for a safe return on whatever spacecraft that may be.”

Margherita Bassi | READ MORE

Margherita Bassi is a freelance journalist and trilingual storyteller. Her work has appeared in publications including BBC Travel, Discover magazine, Live Science, Atlas Obscura and Hidden Compass.