Boeing’s Starliner Spacecraft Will Return to Earth Without Crew

NASA will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft, the agency announced on August 25, 2024 (AEST). The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight while not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew.

Wilmore and Williams, who flew to the International Space Station in June aboard NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, have been busy supporting station research, maintenance, and Starliner system testing and data analysis, among other activities.

“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on the weekend. “The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety – our core value and our North Star. I’m grateful to the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work.”

Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a safe, controlled, autonomous re-entry and landing in early September.

NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters on June 6 as Starliner approached the space station. Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans. The uncertainty and lack of expert concurrence does not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, thus prompting NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.

“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our NASA and Boeing teams for their thorough analysis, transparent discussions, and focus on safety during the Crew Flight Test,” said Ken Bowersox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “We’ve learned a lot about the spacecraft during its journey to the station and its docked operations. We also will continue to gather more data about Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.”

Starliner is designed to operate autonomously and previously completed two uncrewed flights. NASA and Boeing will work together to adjust end-of-mission planning and Starliner’s systems to set up for the uncrewed return in the coming weeks. Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew-9 mission launches to ensure a docking port is available on station.

“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft and, ultimately, this comes down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return,” said Steve Stich, Manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The NASA and Boeing teams have completed a tremendous amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test is providing critical information on Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program requires spacecraft to fly a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the space station. Following Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related data to inform what additional actions are required to meet NASA’s certification requirements.

The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, originally slated with four crew members, will launch no earlier than September 24. When details are finalised, the agency will share more information about the Crew-9 complement.

NASA and SpaceX are currently working on several items before launch, including reconfiguring seats on the Crew-9 Dragon and adjusting the manifest to carry additional cargo, personal effects, and Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams. In addition, NASA and SpaceX will now use new facilities at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral to launch Crew-9, which provides increased operational flexibility around NASA’s planned Europa Clipper launch.

The Crew-9 mission will be the ninth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.