NASA and Boeing officials on Friday denied headlines that the commercial Starliner crew capsule was stranded on the International Space Station, but said they needed more time to analyze the data before officially clearing the spacecraft for undocking and re-entry.
Two NASA astronauts, Commander Butch Wilmore and Pilot Suni Williams, will spend at least a few more weeks on the space station while engineers on the ground conduct engine tests to better understand problems with the Starliner’s orbiting propulsion system. Wilmore and Williams launched on June 5 aboard an Atlas V rocket and docked with the station the next day, completing the first leg of the Starliner’s first test flight with astronauts.
NASA managers had originally planned for the Starliner spacecraft to remain docked with the space station for at least eight days, but left open the possibility of extending the mission. The test flight is now expected to last at least a month and a half, possibly longer, as engineers grapple with helium leaks and engine malfunctions on the Starliner’s service module.
The batteries on this Starliner spacecraft were originally only certified for a 45-day mission duration, but NASA officials said they are considering extending that deadline after confirming that the batteries are working well.
“We have the luxury of time,” said Ken Bowersox, deputy director of NASA’s Directorate for Space Operations. “We’re still in the middle of a test mission. We’re continuing to work on it.”
Previously, NASA and Boeing officials had pushed back the Starliner’s reentry and landing from mid-June, then June 26, and now they have let a possible landing opportunity in early July pass. Last week, NASA said in a statement that the agency’s top leadership would meet to formally review the Starliner’s readiness for reentry, which was not part of the original plan.
“We are not stuck on the ISS”
Steve Stich, head of NASA’s commercial crew program, said Friday he wanted to clear up “misconceptions” that had led to headlines claiming the Starliner spacecraft was stuck or stranded at the space station.
“I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” Stich said. “Our plan is to continue to return them on the Starliner and bring them home when the time is right. We still have a bit of work to do to get there for the final return, but they are safe on the space station.”
With Starliner docked, the space station is currently home to three different spacecraft, including SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Russia’s Soyuz. There are no serious plans to bring Wilmore and Williams home on another spacecraft.
“Obviously we have the luxury of having multiple vehicles and we are working on contingency plans for many different cases, but right now we are really focused on bringing Butch and Suni back on the Starliner,” Stich said.
“We’re not stuck on the ISS,” said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president in charge of the Starliner program. “It’s pretty painful to read the things that are out there. We’ve had a really good test flight so far, and it’s being viewed rather negatively.”
Stich said NASA staff should “interact with reporters more frequently” to fill in information gaps about the Starliner test flight. NASA’s written updates are not always timely and often lack enough detail and context.
NASA officials have cleared the Starliner spacecraft for an emergency return to Earth if astronauts need to leave the space station for safety or medical reasons. But NASA has not yet cleared Starliner for re-entry and landing under “normal” conditions.
“If it’s an emergency situation, we’re prepared to put the crew on the spacecraft and take them home as a lifeboat,” Bowersox said. “For nominal entry, we want to take a closer look at the data before we make the final decision to put the crew on board the vehicle, and it’s such a serious decision that we’ll bring the senior management team together (for approval).”