NASA announced Saturday that it would use Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring home two astronauts who had been stuck on the International Space Station since early June because their Boeing Starliner spaceship had several problems during the flight.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will not be taking the Boeing spacecraft back to Earth. Instead, they will take a SpaceX Crew Dragon ship. The choice was made after months of public worry, speculation about the astronauts’ well-being, and disagreements between government agencies about the return mission. The first trip was only supposed to last eight days.
Spaceflight is risky — even at its safest and even at its most routine — and a test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine, and so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Saturday at a news briefing.
“The pair originally lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast in early June but while in orbit and docked to the ISS, engineers discovered helium leaks and issues involving thrusters, which prompted NASA and Boeing to investigate. The investigation included ground tests at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to recreate the problems, which both NASA and Boeing characterized as minor,” Yahoo noted.
NASA management said they would use the spaceship in an emergency. However, research done in the weeks since has made people less sure that the vehicle is a good choice for getting the astronauts back to Earth.
