Astronauts Sunita Williams and Buchvilmore have been stranded in space since June 6 and hope to return to Earth soon, but NASA says they may have to spend the next few days in uncertainty.
NASA will make a final decision on Saturday about whether to bring Sunita Williams back to Earth on either Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft or SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the US space agency said.
“NASA’s decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts on board is expected no earlier than Aug. 24 (Saturday) following an agency-level review,” the space agency said in a statement.
The eight-day trip aboard the International Space Station (ISS) followed by more than two months in space for Williams and Wilmore – the two who became the first people to fly aboard the much-anticipated Starliner.
As Starliner approached the orbiting lab, the spacecraft experienced several technical problems, such as the failure of several thrusters and a helium leak in the propulsion system.
Although engineers were able to turn four of the five faulty thrusters back on (Starliner has 28 thrusters), concerns about a “successful de-orbit” remain back on Earth.
Although Boeing has declared the safety of the Starliner, NASA officials disagree.
If the US space agency deems Starliner unsuitable for travel on Saturday, it will be removed from the orbiting lab without a crew on board.
Williams and Wilmore will return in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, as NASA has postponed the launch of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the ISS until September 24.
After several years of failures, Boeing launched its first flight on June 5.
Together with SpaceX, the company signed a contract in 2014 with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to fly operational missions to and from the space station.
In 2019, its first unmanned orbital flight mission did not go as planned. This mission will be completed in 2022.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsules have been sending astronauts to space on its Falcon 9 rockets since 2020. It has made about 12 flights to the space station so far.
While Boeing has invested over $1.5 billion in its Starliner program, NASA has paid the aerospace giant about $4.2 billion over the years.
Both Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon were intended to carry astronauts and cargo for NASA missions to low Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
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