This is why NASA astronauts who left with Boeing’s Starliner could return in February
The crew of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft could remain in space until February 2025, while NASA evaluates the SpaceX option for returning to Earth
Having left in June for the International Space Station (ISS) on board the Starliner spacecraft, NASA astronauts could only return to Earth in 2025.
The two veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, protagonists of the maiden flight last June 6 of Boeing's Starliner space capsule, could be forced to remain in orbit until next year, "ripping a passage" for re-entry to a SpaceX spacecraft , Elon Musk's aerospace company. The US space agency reported this.
The astronauts on Boeing's test flight were supposed to stay on the ISS for eight days, but could end up staying for eight months, until February 2025, when the SpaceX flight is scheduled to return.
Meanwhile, on August 6, NASA had already announced that it had postponed the routine launch of astronauts via SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) by a month to dedicate more time to analyzing problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts on board was initially scheduled for August 18, but NASA has announced that the mission, called Crew-9, is now scheduled for "no earlier than" September 24. The delay will provide “operational flexibility” to the agency, according to NASA.
All the details.
NASA UPDATE ON THE RETURN OF THE STARLINER CREW
On August 7, NASA officials said that a decision has not yet been made on how to return Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to Earth.
The two were supposed to return to Earth after a few days. However, a check of the Boeing spacecraft revealed failures in several engines and a helium leak, which forced the return flight to be postponed several times.
To date, astronauts have been in space for about 65 days. NASA has previously indicated that the Starliner can remain in space for up to 90 days, CNN recalls.
So a decision will have to be made shortly.
SPACEX OPTION
NASA officials said yesterday that Boeing's Starliner spacecraft may not be safe enough to bring the crew home and that they may turn to Boeing's rival, SpaceX, for the return much later than originally planned.
“I would say our chances of an uncrewed Starliner return have increased quite a bit based on how things have gone over the last couple of weeks,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, referring to the Internal review processes that must be completed before a return date for Starliner is established. “But again, new data coming in, new analysis, different discussions – we may find ourselves changing in another way.” NASA officials said the space agency has until about "mid-August" to make a final decision.
MORE TROUBLE FOR BOEING
The affair is a source of great embarrassment for Boeing, already grappling with the serious scandals involving its airliners in recent years. According to the Wall Street Journal , the Starliner failure has caused growing tensions between Boeing and NASA, which emerged last week, with conflicting messages regarding the safety of the spacecraft docked at the space station and whether it should be configured for a flight of return.
This mission represents the final milestone before Boeing's vehicle is cleared for regular flights to the ISS, SpaceNews noted.
According to Reuters , mission delays have cost Boeing $125 million, bringing the company's total loss on the program to $1.6 billion since 2016, as the aerospace giant struggles to build a spacecraft capable of competing with the most proven and least expensive SpaceX Crew Dragon to transport NASA astronauts. “When Starliner completes its next flight, Boeing will have met NASA's goal of having two commercial vehicles to transport astronauts,” Boeing said in a statement. Since resuming crewed flights to orbit from American soil in 2020, nine years after the space shuttle program ended, the US space agency has had to rely solely on Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon capsules from private company SpaceX of billionaire Elon Musk.
Until that moment, in fact, NASA depended on the Russian Soyuz missile. The US space agency spent more than 80 million dollars to fly one of its astronauts to the ISS. With Crew Dragon and Starliner, NASA freed itself from Russia's space flight capabilities.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-perche-gli-astronauti-della-nasa-partiti-con-starliner-di-boeing-potrebbero-tornare-a-febbraio/ on Thu, 08 Aug 2024 09:40:14 +0000.