NASA recently confirmed that they have a contingency plan in place to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams back from the International Space Station (ISS) early next year. This plan comes after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was meant to bring them back, experienced thruster failures and helium leaks during its docking with the ISS. As a result, the astronauts have been stuck in orbit for over two months while Boeing and NASA try to determine the vehicle’s safety.
The Boeing Starliner program has faced significant delays and cost overruns, with the June crewed test flight being originally scheduled to take place seven years ago. This delay has put added pressure on NASA to come up with alternative plans for bringing the astronauts back home. If SpaceX ends up being the one to bring them back, it will be yet another setback for Boeing in what has already been a challenging year for the company.
Tests conducted at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility indicated that deformed Teflon seals could be a potential cause of the Starliner’s thruster failures. However, NASA has not yet made a final decision on whether Williams and Wilmore will return using Boeing’s spacecraft. The agency is expected to make a decision by mid-August, and in the meantime, they are keeping the option of using SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission as a backup plan.
Despite the setbacks, NASA still considers using the Starliner as the preferred solution for bringing the astronauts back to Earth. However, the backup plan involves SpaceX sending two astronauts to the ISS on a late September Crew-9 launch, leaving two spots available for Williams and Wilmore to return in February next year. In preparation for this scenario, Boeing will reconfigure the Starliner so that it can return uncrewed ahead of the SpaceX mission.
The situation with bringing astronauts back from the ISS has been a complicated one, with delays, setbacks, and contingency plans in place. NASA is working to ensure the safety and well-being of the astronauts while also trying to navigate the challenges posed by the malfunctioning Starliner spacecraft. The final decision on how to bring Williams and Wilmore back home will be crucial, and both Boeing and SpaceX are playing pivotal roles in this complex operation.
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