Source: AFP
NASA must decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth on Boeing’s Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a rival SpaceX craft, officials said Wednesday .
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams left for the ISS aboard the Starliner on June 5 for an eight-day stay.
But their return was delayed by thruster malfunctions that came to light during the first crewed mission to the ISS by the Boeing spacecraft.
NASA officials, at a news conference Wednesday, said they are still analyzing the booster data, but a decision on whether to use Starliner or SpaceX is looming.
“We don’t have a sharp cutoff, do we?” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “We can juggle things and make things work if we need to expand.
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“But it’s getting a lot harder,” Bowersox said. “We’re getting to a point where the last week of August should really be the call, if not sooner.”
He said the two astronauts were “making the best” of their extra time on the ISS “but I’m sure they’re eager for a decision, just like the rest of us.”
Bowersox said the main issue is with the propulsion system. “Our big concern is having a successful socket burn,” he said.
The NASA official said there have been “very frank discussions” with Boeing and the company is “100 percent behind their vehicle.”
“They have confidence in their vehicle,” he said.
If a decision is made not to use the Starliner, Boeing rival SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, could potentially launch its planned Crew-9 mission to the ISS on September 24 with just two astronauts instead of the usual four.
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The Crew Dragon capsule could then return to Earth with Wilmore and Williams in February 2025 — which would amount to a major embarrassment for aerospace giant Boeing.
NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba said Wilmore and Williams prepared for the mission knowing it was a test flight and “may not be perfect.”
“Human spaceflight is inherently dangerous, and as astronauts we accept that as part of the job,” he said.
Source: AFP
