NASA expects to make a final decision before the end of the month on when and how to bring home two astronauts who have been trapped on the International Space Station for more than two months.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were launched in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft at the beginning of June, on a trip that was supposed to last just over a week. But several problems were detected as the vehicle traveled to the orbiting outpost, forcing the pair to remain in space much longer than anticipated.
NASA officials said Wednesday that engineers and technical experts are analyzing weeks of test data and evaluating different options for how to return astronauts to Earth.
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said they will likely complete their analysis next week, after which a formal review will be held “around the end of next week, potentially early the week after that.”
NASA is deciding whether to fly Wilmore and Williams back aboard the beleaguered Starliner or use one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules to bring them home.
If the agency chooses to turn to SpaceX for the return flight, Wilmore and Williams would need to remain on the space station for another six months.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule is scheduled to launch new crew members to the orbiting outpost in September on a mission known as Crew-9. NASA said it could alter those plans to send two astronauts instead of the originally planned four, and then use the empty seats to bring Wilmore and Williams home at the end of the Crew-9 mission in February.
In that case, the Starliner capsule would return to Earth without a crew, according to NASA.
Bowersox said Wednesday that while no decisions have been made yet, the agency will need to come up with a plan soon to manage the space station’s resources and keep in-orbit operations running smoothly.
“We are getting to the point where by the last week of August we should actually make a call, if not sooner,” he said.
The release of Wilmore and Williams marked the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The mission was designed to be a crucial final test before NASA could certify Boeing to make regular flights to and from the ISS.
But five of Starliner’s thrusters malfunctioned as the spacecraft approached the space station in June, causing delays during the rendezvous and docking process. Helium was also leaking from the capsule’s propulsion system during flight — a problem that mission managers were aware of before Starliner launched into orbit but said was unlikely to affect the mission or astronauts’ safety.
Joe Acaba, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said astronauts are trained for contingencies, including accidents that could keep them in space longer than expected.
Wilmore and Williams have been using their extra time in orbit to conduct scientific experiments and help space station crews with maintenance tasks.
Acaba said that while the pair have stayed up to date on NASA’s decision-making process, they must ultimately rely on the experience of engineers and mission managers on the ground.
“They will do whatever we ask them to do and that is their job as astronauts,” Acaba said.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
