Boeing Starliner returns empty, NASA will use SpaceX to pick up astronauts

Boeing will return its Starliner capsule from the International Space Station without the NASA astronauts it delivered into orbit in early June, the agency announced Saturday.

With the Starliner returning to Earth empty, NASA will now have astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return via SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is expected to launch its ninth routine mission to the ISS for the agency on September 24.

Ultimately, Wilmore and Williams will remain on the ISS for about six months before flying home in February aboard SpaceX’s Crew-9 vehicle. The test flight was originally intended to last about nine days.

The decision to bring the Starliner back from the empty ISS marks a dramatic about-face for NASA and Boeing, as the organizations were previously adamant that the capsule was the primary option for crew return.

But the crewed flight test of the Starliner, which had been billed as the last major milestone in the spacecraft’s development, ran into problems — mainly with its propulsion system.

“Boeing worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a news conference with top NASA officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday. “We want to further understand the root causes and understand design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner can serve as an important part of our crew’s assured access to the ISS.”

He repeated it test flights are “neither safe nor routine” and that the decision was “the result of a commitment to safety”.

NASA will now conduct another phase of the Flight Readiness Review to determine when it will bring the empty Starliner home.

Boeing officials were adamant in press briefings that the Starliner was safe for astronauts to fly home in an emergency, despite delaying the return several times. NASA said there was a “technical disagreement” between the agency and the aerospace company and said it assessed the risk differently than Boeing for the return of its crew.

But NASA officials have repeatedly voiced their support for Boeing, and Nelson said he was “100 percent confident” the Starliner could be launched with a crew again someday.

“We continue to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and the spacecraft,” Boeing said in a statement. statement published in X on Saturday. “We are executing the mission as defined by NASA and preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful return without a crew.”

Ken Bowersox, a NASA associate, said NASA officials were unanimous in their decision to choose SpaceX to bring the crew home.

Meanwhile, SpaceX will bring two astronauts along with its Crew-9 vehicle — instead of the four originally scheduled to go — to make room for Wilmore and Williams.

“SpaceX stands ready to support @NASA in any way we can.” President and COO Gwynne Shotwell responded in a social media post on X.

Boeing’s Starliner “Calypso” capsule has been aboard the International Space Station since early June on a mission that NASA extended indefinitely as the agency and the company tried to determine why multiple of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during docking.

These thrusters, part of the spacecraft’s propulsion system, are key to Starliner’s safe return from the ISS. NASA cited the thrusters on Saturday as an ongoing problem.

The Starliner crew flight test was supposed to be a final frame tested for Boeing and a key element acquired for NASA. The agency hoped to fulfill its dream of having two competing companies — Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX — fly alternating missions to the ISS.

Instead, the flight test further stalls Boeing’s progress in NASA’s Commercial Crew program and, with more than $1.5 billion in losses already absorbed, threatens the company’s future involvement with it.