Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, two astronauts, will return home in February of next year.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as reported by Reuters on Saturday, announced that astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore will come home in February of next year.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson declared, “NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February and that Starliner will return uncrewed.”
He said that problems with the Boeing spacecraft’s thrusters had postponed the return of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
NASA announced that the two astronauts who had traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) in June on board the malfunctioning Starliner capsule manufactured by Boeing would have to return to Earth early in the following year on a SpaceX vehicle. NASA determined that problems with Starliner’s propulsion system made it too dangerous to return the spacecraft’s first crew home.
For years, Boeing has been working hard to create the gumdrop-shaped Starliner capsule, which is meant to rival Crew Dragon as the second American option for delivering astronaut teams to and from Earth’s orbit.
2019: Starliner failed 2019 test to launch to ISS uncrewed
In a 2022 effort to launch unmanned to the International Space Station, Starliner had thruster issues but ultimately succeeded.
NASA needed to approve Starliner’s maiden crew trip in June before approving the capsule for regular flights; however, this has caused an upset in the crew certification process.
Boeing has been rushing to find out what caused its thruster problems and helium leaks since Starliner arrived to the International Space Station in June. To attempt and persuade NASA officials that Starliner is safe to carry the crew back home, the business conducted experiments and simulations on Earth in order to gather data.
NASA’s ruling and Starliner’s unclear certification process will compound the problems facing newly appointed Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over the company this month with the objective of restoring the company’s standing following the dramatic detonation of a 737 MAX passenger airplane in flight in January due to a door panel blowing off.
