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A report has revealed that NASA had several heated exchanges with Boeing after it announced there might be a long wait to bring two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, back to Earth.
according to New York PostSeveral meetings were held by senior executives from both companies, and there were incidents of “shouting and arguing”.
On Sunday, NASA said that the two astronauts will return only in February 2025. However, their Boeing Starliner capsule will return in September this year without Williams and Wilmore.
NYP The report quoted an official as saying that Boeing was “confident” the Starliner was in a position to bring both back, but NASA said it was “too risky”.
“The view here was that Boeing was behaving extremely irresponsibly,” the report quoted one official as saying.
This means that the mission, which was supposed to last a week, will now last at least eight months. The spacecraft went to the International Space Station in June this year on an eight-day trip.
They were stranded when some helium leaks were detected on the Starliner. Reports say they were already aware of the leaks, but their number was much higher than anticipated.
Now, both astronauts will be brought back by a SpaceX taxi flight, which will likely launch in late September.
It is noteworthy that Boeing had received $4.2 billion from NASA to build a transport capsule to carry six astronauts to the ISS. It failed in its first trip itself.
On the other hand, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was given $2.6 billion and has completed nine flights in its Crew Dragon capsule. This will be its tenth mission.
Boeing already faces safety issues in its aircraft business. Following NASA’s announcement, Boeing said it would “continue to focus first and foremost on the safety of the crew and spacecraft”.
“We are executing the mission as assigned by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful unmanned return,” the statement said.
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