The Boeing Starliner crew may have to wait until 2025 to return from the International Space Station, NASA officials said Wednesday.
The administration suggested at a press conference that it may need to use Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX, to return astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth. The officials said if Starliner cannot make it back from the space station, the duo could possibly return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February.
“We could take either path,” said Ken Bowersox, the associate administrator for NASA’s space operations mission directorate. “And reasonable people could pick either path depending on where their view is on, on our position and the uncertainty bound that we have for the data that we’ve got on the thruster system, on the propulsion system.”
Starliner launched its test crew mission June 5, after a series of delays caused by leaks and thruster issues. This marked the first time the company launched a crewed mission to space.
While trying to dock at the space station in June, five of the 28 thrusters went down. The mission was initially supposed to last about eight days, but there is still no official return date for Wiliams and Wilmore after the issues.
NASA said it has been in talks with SpaceX to leave two vacant seats on the upcoming Crew Dragon launch in September, setting the Starliner crew up for a possible return next year. NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said the best option is still to return the astronauts on the Starliner.
“You know, our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” Stich said. “However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open, and so we have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they’re ready to respond on Crew Nine for a contingency of returning a Butch and Suni on Crew Nine, if we need that.”
“We have set up the Dragon for Crew Nine to have flexibility, to have only two passengers fly up on that flight, and then we could return four crew members in the February 2025, time frame,” he added.
Stich also noted that no decision has been made yet on how the duo will return.
A Boeing spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill that the company will update the Starliner to return without a crew if the mission changes.
“Crew Flight Test is currently a crewed mission, and we still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale. If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return,” the spokesperson said.
This story was updated at 12:18 p.m.