(NewsNation) — There are multiple contingency plans in the works for bringing the crew of Boeing’s Starliner home from the International Space Station but no decision has been made, NASA said in a briefing on Wednesday.
Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox noted that the agency has a tendency to wait until there is clear information before making any decisions and information has been slower to develop in this case. He stressed that there are options for a return trip even if using Starliner is deemed to be too risky.
“We’ve got multiple options, we don’t have to bring a crew back on starliner, we could bring them back on another vehicle,” Bowersox said.
NASA considering returning crew on a different capsule
Bowersox did note that the agency has multiple options for returning the crew, noting that different opinions within NASA hinged on people’s comfortability with uncertainty and risk as they try to determine the cause of the capsule’s issues.
NASA said they believe the issue with Starliner’s thrusters, which has been a major source of concern, is caused by a Teflon seal. However, the lack of definitive answers adds an element of uncertainty when it comes to what the exact risk is for returning astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on Starliner.
The agency said that while no decision has been made on how the crew will return, the agency has developed multiple plans to return the astronauts home that could be put into action quickly.
The main plan would be for Crew-9 to fly to the ISS with only two crew instead of four, then Wilmore and Williams would join them on the return voyage in February 2025. Commercial Crew program manager Steve Stitch said that includes having suits for Wilmore and Williams and ways to configure seats in either craft to allow for a safe return.
Starliner is capable of being undocked without a crew, however, that would require changing software parameters on Starliner’s systems and additional training for flight control.
NASA officials did not indicate when the decision would be made, though they do face practical considerations as Starliner remaining at the ISS impacts other planned missions.
NASA recently delayed the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, originally slated for Aug. 18 and now pushed back to Sep. 24. The U.S. side of the ISS only has two docks for crewed capsules and they are both currently occupied.
One is taken up by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavor. Starliner is occupying the other, months after the capsule docked for what was originally planned as an eight-day mission, meaning Starliner must be undocked before Crew-9 can launch.
Starliner’s struggles go back years
Starliner has been beset with issues from the start, with Boeing lagging years behind SpaceX in efforts to develop a commercial crew capsule.
A failed, uncrewed test flight in 2019 led to extensive reviews, with an uncrewed test flight finally succeeding in 2022. The project was then indefinitely delayed in the summer of 2023, as Boeing continued to address problems with the capsule.
The first attempt at a crewed test flight in May of 2024 was scrubbed due to problems with an oxygen valve. A second May launch was scrubbed after the discovery of a helium leak, which Boeing and NASA would ultimately decide not to fix before launch, because it would have meant dismantling the entire capsule.
A June 1 launch was scrubbed last minute over a computer issue, with Wilmore and Williams finally blasting off on June 6, 2024, 14 years after the initial contract announcement in 2010 and ten years after the official contract was signed in 2014.
But the first crewed test mission has faced additional hurdles. Several additional helium leaks were discovered in the capsule’s service module after launch, though NASA has said there is more than enough helium left to power the seven hours of free-flight time needed for the crew to return to Earth.
In addition to the leaks, five of the thrusters failed on the first attempt to dock with the ISS and only one came back online. The crew has remained on the ISS as what was originally planned as an eight-day test flight has dragged on while NASA and Boeing try to troubleshoot Starliner’s issues and ensure it is safe to return the astronauts to Earth.
Part of the issue is that the service module burns up on reentry, so additional data on the cause of the problems can’t be gathered after the return journey.
While headlines have made much of the astronauts being “stranded” in space, NASA has stressed that that isn’t the case, repeatedly noting that they still believe Starliner can return but, if needed, another capsule could be sent up to pick the astronauts up instead.
Starliner adds to Boeing woes
The problems come at a bad time for Boeing, which has been experiencing problems with its 737 Max aircraft. The company recently pleaded guilty to fraud in relation to two crashes involving the 737 Max that killed more than 300 people and is facing grilling from the National Transportation Safety Board over a recent incident where a door plug blew off an aircraft in flight.
In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing reported an additional $125 million loss related to Starliner’s troubles. That comes on top of an earlier $288 million loss related to Starliner delays.
At the end of July, the company reported a $1.4 billion loss in the second quarter while continuing to face scrutiny over its safety culture and quality of its products.
Still, Boeing has said it has no intention of abandoning the Starliner capsule and maintained that the spacecraft will be able to return safely with the crew on board.