NASA have decided on Saturday that the two US astronauts who have now been stuck in space since June 05 will only return to Earth next year with rival SpaceX.
Under the new plan, the SpaceX Crew-9 mission will take off in late September, but carrying only two passengers instead of the originally planned four. It will remain moored to the International Space Station until its scheduled return in February, bringing back its own crew members plus Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
Ten years ago, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA ordered new vessels from both Boeing and SpaceX that could ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. With two such vehicles available, NASA reasoned, there would always be a back-up in case one of the two experienced problems. But Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch and have been the lone vehicle used to taxi astronauts for the past four years.
And this year’s crewed Starliner flight, which followed years of delays and disappointments during the craft’s development, was meant to be a last test of the vehicle before it enters regular operations.
The Saturday decision marked a fresh public relations embarrassment for Boeing, meaning the two astronauts will have to spend a total of eight months in orbit, not the eight days as originally planned. Besides it being a further blow to the already tarnished image of the beleaguered company whose airplane arm have been beset in recent years with concerns about safety and quality control.
FYI, Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed.
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