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NASA said on Wednesday that it has “considered all options” when planning for the return of its Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from space. Speaking to the media on Thursday, an official of the US space agency said that it has considered several options. One of those options is to ensure that the two astronauts return to Earth in 2025. And this plan involves Boeing’s rival SpaceX.
Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said NASA’s main option is to send Butch and Sunita back on Starliner. “However, we have planned for the expected to ensure we have other options open as well,” he said.
Stich said NASA is working closely with SpaceX. “We’re working closely with SpaceX to make sure they’re ready to respond to Crew 9 … We’ll send Butch and Suni back to Crew 9 if we need to.”
NASA on Tuesday announced the postponement of the SpaceX Crew 9 mission, pushing its launch from mid-August this year to September 25. It would have carried four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS).
These astronauts are to arrive at the space station for a short period with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission. They will land in space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
Will Sunita Williams return to Earth in 2025?
Referring to this launch of Crew 9, NASA officials explained how they plan to bring two Starliner astronauts back to Earth. Its main aim is to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by 2025.
“We’ve arranged Dragon for Crew 9 so that there’s flexibility, there can be just two passengers flying on that flight, and then we can bring four crew members back in the February 2025 timeframe, and Butch and Suni will remain on station as part of that augmentation and return home with them on Crew 9,” he said.
However, he added, “We have not approved the plan yet…”
The return of Starliner, which was scheduled to return by mid-June, has been delayed due to thruster and helium leak anomalies on the Starliner capsule docked at the ISS. Officials in space and on the ground are working tirelessly to determine the root cause of the Starliner problem and plan for the safe return of Sunita and Butch.
Starliner is docked to the International Space Station and has spent two months in space, with no return date set.
All is not well with the Starliner
Boeing’s Starliner requires software configuration, the NASA official said. “If we have to undock Starliner first in an uncrewed configuration, we have a task order to allow three crew members on a cargo pallet … in the Crew 8 Dragon,” the NASA official said.
The official said, “Starliner has the capability to undock an aircraft without a crew…Starliner’s software is fine…it can actually handle the capability to undock an aircraft without a crew…however, we just have to configure some software parameters…”
The Starliner capsule brought two NASA astronauts — Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore — to the ISS on June 6. This Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) was the first astronaut mission of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule.
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