CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – NASA concluded on Saturday that returning two astronauts to Earth in Boeing’s problematic new capsule is too risky, and they will have to wait until next year to go home with SpaceX. The pair’s test flight, which was supposed to last a week, will now span more than eight months.
The experienced pilots have been detained aboard the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A series of perplexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule hampered their journey to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern while engineers ran tests and debated what to do about the return mission.
After nearly three months, NASA’s highest officials made the decision on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return aboard a SpaceX capsule in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt a return on autopilot, landing in the New Mexico desert.
As Starliner’s test pilots, the two should have overseen this important final part of the mission.
“A test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine,” remarked NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The decision “is the result of a commitment to safety.”
Nelson stated that learning from NASA’s two space shuttle tragedies played an impact. This time, he added, open conversation was encouraged rather than suppressed.
“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” said Jim Free, NASA’s Associate Administrator.
NASA Decides To Keep 2 Astronauts In Space Until February, Nixes Return On Troubled Boeing Capsule
It was a setback to Boeing, compounding the company’s safety issues on the airplane side. Boeing had hoped that Starliner’s first crew mission would revitalize the faltering spacecraft program after years of delays and rising costs. The business asserted that Starliner was safe based on the recent thruster tests in space and on the ground.
Boeing did not attend NASA’s news conference on Saturday but said, “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and the spacecraft.” The corporation said it prepares the spacecraft “for a safe and successful return.”
Jan Osburg, a senior engineer at Rand Corp. specializing in aerospace and defense, believes NASA made the right decision. “But the U.S. is still left with egg on its face due to the Starliner design issues that should have been caught earlier.”
Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, are retired Navy captains with prior long-duration spaceflight experience. Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Wilmore and Williams said their families had accepted the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago.
During their lone orbital news conference last month, the astronauts expressed confidence in the thruster testing being undertaken. They had no complaints, and they liked helping with space station tasks.
Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, stated via text that she and their daughters, along with relatives and friends, “were praying for a safe return on whatever spacecraft that may be.” While they are disappointed that Dad will be gone for longer, “we know that it’s the Lord’s plan,” she stated.
Flight operations director Norm Knight said he spoke with the astronauts on Saturday, and they completely support the decision to postpone their return.
There needed to be more choices.
The SpaceX spacecraft currently parked at the space station is intended for the four inhabitants who have been there since March. They will return in late September, having prolonged their usual six-month stay by one month due to the Starliner issue. NASA stated that cramming two additional people into the capsule would be dangerous unless necessary.
The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is much smaller and capable of carrying only three people, two Russians closing up a year-long mission.
So Wilmore and Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight. It is scheduled to launch in late September, with two astronauts instead of the normal four. NASA is removing two to create a way for Wilmore and Williams on their return voyage in late February.
NASA stated that no real consideration was given to asking SpaceX for a rapid stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian Space Agency had to hurry up a replacement Soyuz capsule for three crew when their previous vehicle was damaged by space trash. The switch extended their six-month expedition to a little over a year.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield praised the decision via X, saying, “It’s Good to err on the side of caution for astronaut lives. Astronauts devote their entire careers to long missions. I would gladly take it!”
Starliner’s problems began even before its recent flight.
Bad software ruined the first test flight without a crew in 2019, necessitating a redo in 2022. Then, parachute and other concerns arose, including a helium leak in the capsule’s fuel system, which prevented a launch attempt in May. The leak was eventually determined to be isolated and tiny enough to cause no worry. However, more leaks appeared after liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.
All except one of the small thrusters resumed during flight. However, engineers were perplexed when ground testing revealed that a thruster seal had swollen and obstructed a propellant line. They hypothesized that the seals in orbit may have enlarged and returned to their regular size. Officials claimed the results signaled a tipping point as their fears intensified.
With so much uncertainty about how the thrusters would function, “there was too much risk for the crew,” NASA’s commercial crew program manager, Steve Stich, told reporters.
NASA Decides To Keep 2 Astronauts In Space Until February, Nixes Return On Troubled Boeing Capsule
These 28 thrusters are crucial. They are required for space station rendezvous and also maintain the capsule orientated in the correct direction at the end of the mission when larger engines manoeuvre the vessel out of orbit. Coming in crooked might be a disaster.
With the Columbia accident still fresh in many people’s minds (the shuttle broke apart during reentry in 2003, killing all seven aboard), NASA made an extra effort to encourage open debate over Starliner’s return potential.
NASA launched its commercial crew program a decade ago to establish two competing U.S. companies to transport astronauts in the post-shuttle future. Boeing secured the larger deal, worth more than $4 billion, compared to SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.
With station supply missions now under its belt, SpaceX nailed its first of nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing was mired down by design problems that cost the firm more than $1 billion. NASA officials are hopeful that the Starliner’s issues can be resolved in time for another crew journey in the next year or so.
SOURCE | AP
