NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were only supposed to be in space for eight days. Now they may wind up being in orbit for eight months.
🚀 How we got here
On June 5, Williams and Wilmore launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard Boeing’s new Starliner on what was supposed to be an eight-day test mission.
But helium leaks and thruster failures almost derailed their arrival at the International Space Station, and have kept them at the orbiting lab — which is home to seven others — ever since.
🇺🇸 What NASA is saying
For weeks, NASA insisted that problems with Boeing’s new Starliner were minor, and that the spacecraft was safe enough to get the astronauts home.
But on Wednesday, NASA admitted that the issues with the spacecraft are more serious than first thought, and that Williams and Wilmore may not return on the Starliner after all.
NASA said it is exploring backup options, including having the astronauts hitch a ride back to Earth on a spacecraft built by Boeing’s competitor SpaceX instead of waiting for tests on the Starliner to be completed.
“We could take either path,” Ken Bowersox, a NASA administrator, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “And reasonable people could pick either path.”
But the earliest return trip for the astronauts on SpaceX would be six months away, in February.
📡 What Boeing is saying
Boeing issued a brief statement following the news conference, repeating its position that the capsule could still safely bring the astronauts home.
“We still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale.” the company said.
In a statement released on Aug. 2, Boeing said it “remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew.”
“The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 RCS thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability,” the company added. “Starliner’s propulsion system also maintains redundancy and the helium levels remain stable. The data also supports root cause assessments for the helium and thruster issues and flight rationale for Starliner and its crew’s return to Earth.”
👨‍🚀👩‍🚀 What the astronauts are saying
NASA declined a request from Yahoo News for an interview with the astronauts, saying it hopes to “hold an on-orbit news conference with Butch and Suni” after a decision is made about how to get them home.
During a news conference with reporters last month, the astronauts were confident they’d be coming home on the Starliner.
“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” Williams said on July 10.
🛰️ What’s next?
SpaceX’s next flight to the International Space Station for NASA which had been scheduled for Aug. 18 has been pushed back to Sept. 24.
Under the contingency plan currently being explored by NASA, that SpaceX capsule would travel to the space station with only two astronauts instead of four, and Williams and Wilmore would then join members of the space station who are due back on the return flight next February.
NASA said it expects to make a final decision on its plan to get the astronauts home by mid-August.
