Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former military test pilots, were the first crew members of the Starliner on June 5 when they launched to the ISS for what is expected to be an eight-day test mission.
But during the first 24 hours of the flight to the ISS, Starliner’s propulsion system experienced a series of malfunctions, forcing the astronauts to spend 79 days on the station while Boeing rushed to investigate the problems.
NASA officials told reporters during a news conference in Houston that Wilmore and Williams, both former military test pilots, were safe and prepared to stay longer. They would use their extra time to conduct science experiments alongside the station’s other seven astronauts, NASA said.
In a rare shakeup of NASA’s astronaut operations, the two astronauts are now expected to return in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled to launch next month as part of a routine astronaut rotation mission. Two of the Crew Dragon’s four astronaut seats will remain open for Wilmore and Williams.
NASA’s decision to entrust Boeing’s biggest space rival with the astronaut return mission is one of NASA’s most consequential decisions in years. Boeing had hoped its Starliner test mission would rescue the struggling program after years of development problems and budget overruns of more than $1.6 billion since 2016.
Five of the Starliner’s 28 engines failed during the flight and there were several leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the engines. The spacecraft was still able to dock with the station, a football field-sized laboratory that has hosted rotating crews of astronauts for more than two decades.
NASA said in a statement that Starliner will undock from the ISS without a crew “in early September.” The spacecraft will attempt to return to Earth autonomously, forgoing a key test goal of having a crew present and under control for the return flight.
“I know this is not the decision we had hoped for, but we are prepared to take the necessary steps to support NASA’s decision,” Boeing Starliner chief Mark Nappi told employees in an email.
“The primary focus remains on ensuring the safety of the crew and the spacecraft,” Nappi said.
Several senior NASA officials and Boeing representatives made the decision during a meeting Saturday morning in Houston.
NASA space agency chief Ken Bowersox said agency officials voted unanimously for Crew Dragon to bring the astronauts home. Boeing voted for Starliner because the company believed it would be safe.
Nelson told reporters at a news conference in Houston that he had discussed the agency’s decision with Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg and was confident Boeing would continue its Starliner program. Nelson said he was “100 percent” sure the spacecraft would carry another crew in the future.
“He expressed to me his intention that they would continue to work on the problems once Starliner returned safely,” Nelson said of Ortberg.
Boeing struggled for years to develop the Starliner, a gummy bear-shaped capsule designed to compete alongside Crew Dragon as the U.S.’s second option for transporting astronauts to and from Earth’s orbit. The company also struggled with quality problems in the production of commercial aircraft, its most important products.
Starliner failed in an uncrewed launch to the ISS in 2019, but was largely successful in a repeat attempt in 2022, which also encountered engine problems. The June mission with the first crew was required before NASA can certify the capsule for routine flights, but now the path to Starliner crew certification is uncertain.
The lengthy mission has cost Boeing $125 million, securities filings show. The company has been running tests and simulations on Earth to collect data it will use to try to convince NASA officials that Starliner is safe to fly the crew home.
But the results of those tests raised more difficult technical questions and ultimately failed to allay NASA officials’ concerns about the Starliner’s engines and its ability to conduct a crewed return flight, the most difficult and complex part of the test mission.
“There were just too many uncertainties in the engine predictions,” Steve Stich, head of NASA’s commercial crew program, told reporters.
The Starliner’s now uncertain path to long-awaited NASA certification will only exacerbate the crisis facing Ortberg, who entered the month tasked with restoring the aircraft maker’s reputation after a door panel on a 737 MAX passenger plane dramatically ripped off in midair in January.
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Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by David Gregorio and Rod Nickel
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