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NASA officials will harbinger their final conclusion on Saturday as to whether two NASA astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams — will return to Earth on Boeing ’s Starliner space vehicle or hitch a drive home with SpaceX instead — a decision that could have a huge impact across the chop-chop evolving distance industry .
Here ’s the backstory . Boeing launched its first crewed Starliner mission on June 5 for what was supposed to be an eight - solar day visit on the International Space Station ( ISS ) . The commission is meant to be the last , crucial hurdle before the abridgement is certified to conduct regular astronaut fare flights to and from the ISS .
But in the terminal phase angle of its overture to the place , the Starliner spacecraftexperienced a serial publication of technological issues — the failure of several pusher and helium leaks in the propulsion system .
After about an hour ’s postponement , applied scientist were able to wreak four of the five malfunctioning thrusters back online ( there are 28 thruster on Starliner ) . But since that point , NASA and Boeing have been engage in a root movement investigation into the issue , include data analysis of the thrusters onboard Starliner and ground testing of replication thrusters at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico to study performance under condition like to what the spacecraft would experience when it departs the station .
“ Our big concern is give birth a successful de - orbit burn — verify that the [ propulsion ] system work just the way it needs to all the way through the de - orbit burning , ” NASA consort decision maker Ken Bowersox say during a press conference earlier this calendar month .
NASA has acknowledged that functionary inside the organizationdisagree on the right course of action moving forward . Boeing , for its part , has madepublic proclamations on the safety of Starlinerand the thoroughness of the mental testing campaign .
Saturday ’s gamy - stakes conclusion will lay the argumentation to rest . If the agency square up that Starliner is not secure enough to pilot home , it would undock from the place empty , and Williams and Wilmore would turn back onboard a SpaceX Dragon condensation . ( Starliner could still safely return to the surface autonomously in this scenario , but the optics are n’t majuscule . )
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NASA has already detain the launching of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the ISS by one month , to September 24 ; Williams and Wilmore would use that vehicle to return to Earth at the end of its hitch — in February 2025 .
If NASA determines that Starliner should fall empty , NASA could bump two astronauts from the Crew-9 manifest to make way for Williams and Wilmore ’s reappearance . The other option on the board is for one Starliner astronaut to return with Crew-8 and another with Crew-9 , though this would be the first time a SpaceX Dragon flies five crew penis at one prison term .
Unlike Starliner , Dragon has prove its bona fides to NASA . The spacecraft has become vital to the space representation , as it is the sole American - made manner of exile for astronauts ( among other thing , global politics make use of Russia ’s Soyuz ejection seat and facility impossible ) . SpaceX ’s Dragon complete its crew certification mission back in 2020 and has since behave eight crewed deputation for NASA and a fistful more private human spaceflight missions . Starliner is the only credible competition right now , and if it were slay from the board , Dragon would be even more in demand .
NASA leaders , including its point executive Bill Nelson , will prevail what ’s get laid as an “ agency - degree review ” of the data point , also called a Flight Readiness Review , on Saturday and hold a press conference shortly after .
Much is on the line for both NASA and Boeing . Boeing haspoured over $ 1.5 billion into its Starliner programme , and it ’s unclear whether the aerospace giant would go along with its development should this trial mission result in a failure . NASA , for its part , has paid Boeing $ 4.2 billion over the years for development of the spacecraft , with the hopes of having two commercial cosmonaut shipping provider online . If its decisiveness Saturday results in one being cease , it could make for some awkward budget conversations .
Either way , Saturday ’s decision will in all likelihood be seen as a watershed moment in privately germinate spaceflight and public - secret partnerships . air in at 10 a.m. Pacific time or watch for our insurance coverage on Saturday .
