Inside NASA’s decision to keep astronauts in space: What’s next for Starliner spacecraft?
If the findings of an independent report released this year have any weight, NASA not only made the right call in sending Starliner home without its crew, but may not even need the vehicle at all.
The future of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft remains marked by uncertainty now that its crew of two astronauts has finally returned to Earth on another company's vehicle.
Officials at Boeing no doubt had high hopes that the Starliner's maiden voyage with a crew in June would be a critical step in NASA approving the spacecraft for routine trips to orbit. Instead, the critical flight test ended in failure when the Starliner encountered technical problems upon reaching the International Space Station that led NASA to deem it unsafe for its crew to ride back to the ground.
Under NASA's plan, announced in August, the Starliner eventually undocked autonomously from the orbital laboratory to head back to Earth emptyhanded. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two experienced NASA astronauts selected for the vehicle's inaugural crewed flight test, were then left to wait at the station for several more months before making their own return.
That happened this week, when Wilmore and Williams hitched a ride on a SpaceX Dragon docked since September at the station for a water landing Tuesday evening off the coast of Florida. Also on board the Dragon spacecraft for the 17-hour return journey were the two spacefarers of a mission known as Crew-9, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
But now that Wilmore and Williams are home, ending a nine-month spaceflight that was only meant to last a few days, questions remain about the troubled spacecraft they rode to orbit.
If the findings of an independent watchdog report released this year are to be given any weight, NASA not only made the right call in sending Starliner home without its crew, but may not even need the vehicle at all.
Here's a closer look at what that report found, and what NASA says is next for Boeing and Starliner:
Did NASA make the right call to send Starliner home without crew?
NASA's decision to send the Starliner back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing Sept. 6 in the New Mexico desert was not one everyone agreed with – including, reportedly, officials at Boeing.
But for officials at the U.S. space agency, the difficult choice became necessary when engineers uncovered a slew of helium leaks and thruster issues when Boeing's Starliner reached the space station.
In its 2024 annual report, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel confirmed NASA made the right call to undock the Starliner without its crew. The panel serves as an advisory committee that reports to both NASA and Congress.
The decision, the report found, was "one of the most complex and challenging crew safety decisions NASA has faced in years," adding that the agency "took a thoughtful and effective approach" to err on the side of safety.
While the Starliner largely "performed well" while making a successful autonomous landing, another seperate thruster failure was later detected, according to the panel.
"Had the crew been aboard, this would have significantly increased the risk during reentry, confirming the wisdom of the decision," the report found.
Boeing's press team did not respond to Paste BN's request for comment.
Wilmore, Williams await end of Crew-9 mission to return to Earth
To avoid having the station be understaffed, NASA also opted to keep Williams and Wilmore in orbit for a few extra months rather than launch an emergency mission to return them to Earth.
When the Crew-9 team of Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the space station on the Dragon, it was with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams upon the conclusion of their six-month science mission. The arrival of the mission's Crew-10 replacements over the weekend at the station is what finally paved the way for the four astronauts to depart earlier this week.
That decision though, has also been met with criticism – most prominently from President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk − who have placed blame on the Biden administration.
For their part, Wilmore and Williams have routinely defended NASA's decision while downplaying their extended stay as being part of the job.
"We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short," Wilmore said earlier this month when he, Hague and Williams appeared at the station for a March 4 news conference.
Does NASA still need to certify Starliner for ISS trips?
The Boeing Starliner was meant to provide NASA with a second operational vehicle under its commercial crew program.
The program allows the U.S. space agency to pay private companies to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard their own private vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other deep space missions, including plans for future crewed expeditions to Mars.
SpaceX's Dragon has been making Crew science expeditions since 2020 to the space station under the program, most of which last about six months.
The Starliner's path toward certification, however, remains fraught after its botched inaugural crewed flight test with Wilmore and Williams.
But ASAP's report questions whether NASA even needs the vehicle anymore, especially amid plans for the International Space Station to be decommissioned and deorbited in the coming years.
"Until the Starliner certification plan is well understood, it remains unclear as to whether a second provider will be available prior to the end of the ISS's operational life," the report stated. "While NASA could potentially realize a benefit from having a reliable second provider, NASA should regularly review its risk-benefit analysis to ensure the overall risks of its plans remain acceptable."
What's next for the Boeing Starliner?
NASA appears to still be moving ahead with plans to work with Boeing to make Starliner operational.
The aerospace company will continue to conduct tests this summer at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico while making modifications to the vehicle to prepare it for routine spaceflight, NASA officials have said.
While engineers have focused on fixing the thruster issues, the panel determined in its report that other problems with Starliner also require modification before it can be certified. That includes a battery redesign plan and work to strengthen the landing airbag backing panel.
But when Starliner could next fly – with or without a crew – remains to be determined.
"Once the test campaigns are complete, NASA will develop a potential Starliner flight schedule based on the International Space Station's current mission schedule," a NASA spokesman said in an email to Paste BN.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com