malfunctioning Starliner spaceship to the International Space Station will require a SpaceX vehicle to come back to Earth.
NASA stated: “NASA’s decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts abroad is expected no earlier than Saturday, Aug. 24 at the conclusion of an agency-level review.”
Starliner launched its first two cosmonauts into space in June as an essential check before obtaining NASA acceptance for usual flights. Although the flight was expected to be an eight-day delegation docked at the International Space Station (ISS), in the final stage of its steps to the station, the Starliner spaceship faced a succession of technical problems.
Following nearly an hour’s postponement, engineers managed to fix the majority of the issues. Since then, NASA and Boeing have been involved in an exhaustive investigation of the matters, including data examination for the Starliner spaceship’s onboard system, as well as ground testing at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
The ground testing is meant to determine what will happen when the spaceship leaves the International Space Station.
During a media conference from previous this month, Ken Bowersox, NASA associate administrator declared: “Our big concern is having a successful de-orbit burn - making sure that the [propulsion] system works just the way it needs to all the way through the de-orbit burn.”
NASA has admitted that the organization’s officials don’t agree on the right course of operation moving ahead. On the other hand, Boeing, for its part, has declared in the public space that Starliner is safe and the tests are very rigorous.
However, Saturday’s risky decision will end the debate. If NASA determines that Starliner is not secure enough to come back home, it will take off from the station without a crew, and Williams and Wilmore would return on Earth in an Elon Musk SpaceX Dragon capsule.
NASA has already postponed the launch of the Elon Musk SpaceX Crew-9 operation to the ISS for one month, to 24th September. So, the two astronauts would board that spacecraft to come back home in February 2025.
If NASA decides that Starliner must come back empty, NASA could face two cosmonauts from the Crew-9 manifest to make some space for Williams and Wilmore’s come back.
On the other hand, the other possible scenario involves one Starliner astronaut returning with Crew-8 and another with Crew-9, even though that would be the first time an Elon Musk SpaceX Dragon will navigate carrying five crew members at once.
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