Boeing’s Starliner capsule undocks from the International Space Station (ISS) in September without Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the crew of its inaugural crew flight test. Credit: NASA
After 268 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made their highly anticipated return to Earth on Tuesday evening. But while they are back on solid ground, the vehicle that flew them to the orbital laboratory faces an uncertain future.
Wilmore and Williams were commander and pilot, respectively, for the inaugural crew flight test (CFT) of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which the company is developing under a multibillion-dollar NASA contract. The brief mission was extended after engineers uncovered helium leaks and thruster issues with Starliner, which returned to Earth empty in September, prompting NASA to enlist SpaceX for the astronauts’ return flight.
During a Tuesday press conference, officials said they do not yet know whether the next Starliner mission will be crewed or uncrewed. Boeing did not have a representative present to field questions about the spacecraft.
“We’re in the process of looking at that vehicle, looking at the helium system,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said Tuesday.
The Starliner duo splashed down off the coast of Florida at the expected time of 5:57 p.m. EDT Tuesday and were greeted by a pod of dolphins. After completing routine medical checkouts, they arrived at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday and will soon enjoy some “well-deserved time off,” Stich said, with their families.
Starliner, though, won’t have that luxury. Stich said NASA has a “little bit more time” to determine whether Starliner will fly the space agency’s 12th commercial crew astronaut rotation mission to the ISS. To date, SpaceX’s Dragon has been the sole crew capsule for those flights, including the Crew-9 and Crew-10 missions that facilitated Wilmore and Williams’ return.
Boeing was hoping the CFT would be the spacecraft’s final flight before being certified for commercial crew missions. According to Stich, the firm has already provided “a lot” of certification data. But there are outstanding issues with the propulsion system, for example.
“What we’d like to do is one flight, and then get into a crew rotation flight,” said Stich. “The next flight up would really test all the changes we’re making to the vehicle, and then the next flight beyond that, we really need to get Boeing into a crewed rotation.”
Before the next flight happens, NASA will need to conduct testing to ensure future missions do not suffer the same issues. Stich said personnel have already identified seals that could be replaced to prevent helium leaks. Boeing, meanwhile, developed a thermal system that engineers are using to test Starliner’s doghouses, which contain its thrusters.
“We’ll add some tape and thermal barriers in different places,” Stich said.
Ironically, the Starliner duo’s return on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon demonstrates exactly why NASA enlisted Boeing as a commercial crew provider. The space agency wants a pair of redundant vehicles that could fly to the ISS in a pinch. In this case, Dragon stepped in when Starliner experienced issues. But in the future, Starliner could be the backup vehicle for a Dragon contingency.
“This is a lesson learned for NASA, too, such that when we do have Boeing and SpaceX both flying on a regular basis, we need to be able to do the opposite,” said Bill Spetch, operations integration manager for NASA’s ISS program office.
Asked if Boeing has given its 100 percent commitment to the Starliner program—which has cost the firm more than $2 billion—Stich said the firm was “keenly interested” in Wilmore and Williams’ return and has been in communication throughout the process. In October, not long after Boeing appointed Kelly Ortberg CEO, The Wall Street Journal reported the company was weighing the sale of its entire space business, including Starliner.
“I see a commitment from Boeing to continue the program,” Stich said. “They realize that they have an important vehicle, and we were very close to having a capability that we would like to field. I think we have some changes we need to make to the way we heat those thrusters, the way we fire those thrusters, and then we can test that on the next flight.”
SpaceX’s Dragon, meanwhile, is expected to fly the Crew-11 mission as early as mid-July, officials said Tuesday. Starliner was previously intended to make its debut operational mission in 2025.
