Nasa is considering bringing back two astronauts on a SpaceX capsule after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they arrived on at the International Space Station suffered technical issues.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the orbiting laboratory on June 6 on a test flight, but the craft experienced several problems since launching, including thruster problems and helium leaks.
Their trip was initially meant to last only about a week, with a return date still not decided by Nasa and Boeing, as it remains unclear whether the Starliner would be safe enough to bring the astronauts home.
Nasa
During an online media briefing on Wednesday, Nasa officials said they had several contingency plans in place.
One of them includes launching two instead of four astronauts on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission in September, so the capsule will have enough space for the two Boeing Starliner astronauts on the journey back home in February 2025.
“We have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they're ready to respond on Crew-9 for a contingency of returning Butch and Suni if we need that,” said Steve Stich, commercial crew programme manager at Nasa.
“We have set up the Dragon for Crew-9 to have flexibility – to have only two passengers fly up on that flight and then we could return four crew members in February 2025.”
He said that Nasa has yet to approve this plan, but the requirements are in place in case a backup is needed.
The crew members would complete about eight months aboard the space station if Nasa proceeds with the plan – longer than the typical six-month missions that its astronauts spend in space.
Meanwhile, the Starliner would be brought back to Earth uncrewed.
Boeing had launched the Starliner capsule to show that it could safely launch and bring back humans.
It has a $4.2 billion contract by Nasa under its Commercial Crew Programme to deliver its astronauts to and from the space station and has been developing the craft for a decade.
But it has been plagued with delays and technical issues, with the latest developments making it unclear when the company could begin commercial operations.
Nasa is hoping to secure multiple “taxi” options to the station so that it does not have to rely only on one rocket.
Boeing's rival SpaceX is dominating this business so far, having launched eight crews for Nasa since 2021 and private missions for Axiom Space.
The Starliner launch was meant to help Boeing rebuild its reputation, which was damaged by two crashes involving 737 Max 8 jets and a mid-flight door panel blowout on a 737 Max 9 jet earlier this year.
