By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA said on Thursday it expects to announce on Saturday its decision on whether the two astronauts who rode Boeing’s glitchy Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station will need a SpaceX vehicle to return to Earth.
“NASA’s decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts aboard is expected no earlier than Saturday, August 24 at the conclusion of an agency-level review,” the space agency said in a statement.
The Starliner launched its first two astronauts into space in June as a crucial test before it can receive NASA approval for routine flights. But what was supposed to be an eight-day mission docked to the ISS has been dragged out by months after the capsule sprang a leak and some of its propellers failed.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will attend the agency-level review, the statement said. Boeing has for months tried to allay NASA’s fears about the Starliner problems with new test data that the company has claimed confirms the spacecraft’s safety for astronauts.
NASA weighs that data against its low risk appetite in the mission, one of four Starliner flights since 2019 to suffer mishaps.
The agency has drawn up a backup plan to make two slots available on an upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon mission for the Starliner crew — veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — to use.
If NASA pursues the SpaceX backup plan, Wilmore and Williams would not return home until that mission ended in February 2025, and the Starliner would attempt to return to Earth empty.
If NASA decides the Starliner is safe for the astronauts, the capsule would fly them home by itself much sooner, likely within the next month to free up the ISS docking port for the SpaceX mission.
The upcoming decision by NASA is a nerve-wracking moment for Boeing, which has struggled to develop the Starliner and compete with SpaceX’s similar but more experienced Crew Dragon. Boeing has taken $1.6 billion in losses on the Starliner program, securities filings show.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)