NASA Decides to Keep 2 Astronauts in Space Until February, But Refuses to Return to Troubled Boeing Capsule

NASA decided Saturday that it was too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth aboard Boeing’s new capsule, and they will have to wait until next year for a return with SpaceX. What was supposed to be a week-long test flight for the two astronauts will now last more than eight months.

The veteran pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since early June. A series of thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they were left on hold while engineers conducted tests and debated how to proceed with the return flight.

After nearly three months, the decision was finally made Saturday at the highest levels of NASA. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return aboard a SpaceX capsule in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return to autopilot with a landing in the New Mexico desert.

As Starliner test pilots, the duo would have been responsible for overseeing this critical final leg of the journey.

“A test flight is neither safe nor routine by nature,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. The decision “is the result of a commitment to safety.”

Nelson said lessons learned from NASA’s two space shuttle accidents played a role. This time, he noted, open dialogue was encouraged rather than stifled.

“This was not an easy decision to make, but it is absolutely the right one,” added NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.

It’s a blow to Boeing, adding to the company’s ongoing safety concerns on the aircraft side. Boeing had been counting on Starliner’s first crewed flight to revive its struggling space program after years of delays and rising costs. The company had insisted that Starliner was safe based on all recent thruster tests, both in space and on the ground.

Boeing did not participate in NASA’s press conference Saturday, but issued a statement: “Boeing continues to focus, above all, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft.” The company said it was preparing the spacecraft “for a safe and successful return.”

Jan Osburg, a senior aerospace and defense engineer at Rand Corp., said NASA made the right choice. “But the U.S. is still in trouble because of Starliner design problems that should have been caught earlier.”

Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, are both retired Navy captains with long-duration spaceflight experience. Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Wilmore and Williams said their families had accepted the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago.

At their orbital press conference last month, the astronauts said they were confident in the ongoing thruster tests, adding that they had no complaints and were excited to be involved in the work on the space station.

Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was equally stoic in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., their home state. She was already bracing for a delay: “You just have to deal with it.”

Flight operations director Norm Knight said he spoke to the astronauts on Saturday and they fully supported the decision to postpone their return.

There were few options.

The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their six-month stay extended by a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA has said it would be dangerous to cram two more people into the capsule except in an emergency.

The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even more compact, capable of carrying just three – including two Russians to conclude a year-long stay.

Wilmore and Williams will have to wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight, scheduled for late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four. NASA is removing two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight scheduled for late February.

NASA said it had not seriously considered asking SpaceX to quickly and autonomously rescue the Soyuz capsule. Last year, the Russian space agency had to rush a replacement Soyuz capsule for three men whose original craft was damaged by space debris. That change pushed back their mission from six months to just over a year.

Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield welcomed the decision via X: “It’s good to err on the side of caution for the lives of astronauts.” Long-duration missions are “what astronauts work for their entire careers. I would take it in a heartbeat!”

Starliner’s woes began long before its final flight.

Faulty software ruined the first uncrewed test flight in 2019, forcing a repeat attempt in 2022. Parachute problems and other issues subsequently arose, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system that canceled a launch attempt in May. The leak was ultimately deemed isolated and small enough not to cause any problems. But more leaks emerged after liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

All but one of those small thrusters restarted in flight. But engineers were puzzled by ground tests that showed a thruster seal bulging and clogging a thruster line. They speculated that the seals in orbit might have expanded and then returned to their normal size. Officials said the findings marked a turning point as their concerns grew.

With all the uncertainty about how the thrusters would work, “there was too much risk to the crew,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, told reporters.

These 28 thrusters are essential. In addition to being needed for the rendezvous with the space station, they keep the capsule pointed in the right direction at the end of the flight while larger engines steer the craft out of orbit. Coming in wrong could spell disaster.

With the Columbia disaster still fresh in many minds (the shuttle broke apart upon re-entry in 2003, killing all seven people on board), NASA made an extra effort to open up the debate about Starliner’s ability to return.

Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA is not giving up on Boeing. Nelson said he is “100 percent” certain Starliner will fly again.

NASA launched its Commercial Crew Program a decade ago, seeking two competing American companies to carry astronauts into the post-space shuttle era. Boeing won the largest contract: more than $4 billion, compared to SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.

With hardware deliveries to the station already underway, SpaceX successfully completed its first of nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing has been mired in design flaws that have cost the company more than $1 billion. NASA officials remain hopeful that Starliner’s problems can be fixed in time for another crew flight in about a year.

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