The two astronauts who went up to the International Space Station (ISS) on Boeing’s Starliner will have to come home on a different spacecraft next year, NASA officials announced Saturday.
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who performed the first crewed test flight of Starliner, will return in February 2025 on the Space-X crew 9, according to NASA.
The Boeing Starliner will return in a separate flight uncrewed, NASA said.
“The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference.
This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July 2, 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Handout/NASA/AFP via Getty Images
When Wilmore and Williams launched on June 5, they were originally scheduled to only be on the ISS for a week and return on June 14, but have since had their return delayed multiple times.
While the pair integrated with the “Expedition 71” crew aboard the ISS, assisting them with research and other responsibilities, NASA officials have said Wilmore and Williams are using up more supplies meant for the ISS crew.
Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that NASA teams spent all summer looking over the data on Starliner and felt there was too much risk with regard to the vehicle’s thrusters.
“There was too much risk for the crew,” he said.
A Boeing spokesperson said in a statement that the company “continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft.”
“We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return,” Boeing said.
NASA officials said Wilmore and Williams will assist with science experiments, maintenance and maybe some spacewalks during their extended stay on the ISS.
When SpaceX’s Dragon Crew-9 launches in September it will do so with only two of the four astronauts assigned to it to accommodate Wilmore and Williams on the return trip, according to Stich.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test, is launched on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, June…
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