Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s flawed Starliner capsule in June will have to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA said Saturday, declaring problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to transport the first crew to Earth.
The agency’s decision to return the astronauts to Boeing’s biggest space rival is one of NASA’s most significant in years. Boeing had hoped the test mission would redeem the Starliner program after years of development problems and a budget overrun of more than $1.6 billion since 2016.
Boeing is also struggling with quality problems in the production of commercial airplanes, its most important products.
Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former military test pilots, became the first crew to fly Starliner on June 5. The mission was to be an eight-day test mission.
But Starliner’s propulsion system suffered a series of failures that began within the first 24 hours of its flight to the ISS, causing months of cascading delays. Five of its 28 engines failed, and there were several leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the engines.
In a rare reorganization of NASA’s astronaut operations, two astronauts are scheduled to return in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, set to launch next month as part of a routine astronaut rotation mission. Two of Crew Dragon’s four astronaut seats will remain empty for Wilmore and Williams.
Starliner will detach from the ISS without a crew and attempt to return to Earth, just as it would with astronauts on board.
Boeing has struggled for years to develop Starliner, a candy-shaped capsule that was meant to compete with Crew Dragon as the U.S.’s second option for sending crews of astronauts to Earth orbit and back.
Starliner failed in an unmanned test launch to the ISS in 2019, but was mostly successful in a repeat attempt in 2022 that also had some engine issues. A crewed mission was required before NASA could certify the capsule for routine flights, but now Starliner’s certification path has been upended.
Since Starliner docked with the ISS in June, Boeing has been scrambling to figure out what caused the engine failures and helium leaks. The company has set up tests and simulations on Earth to gather data it has used to convince NASA officials that Starliner is safe for the crew to return home.
But the test results raised tougher engineering questions and ultimately failed to allay NASA officials’ concerns about Starliner’s ability to make a manned return flight — the most daunting and complex part of the test mission.
NASA’s decision and the uncertain path to Starliner certification will deepen the crisis facing Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who this month set out to rebuild the company’s reputation after a door panel dramatically tore off a 737 MAX passenger plane in mid-air in January.
