NASA Orders Starliner Return Without Stranded ISS Crew: Here's Why

NASA has decided to bring back the Boeing Starliner capsule without crew members Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams following months of speculations regarding their return and safety concerns associated with the mission. The two astronauts will now spend a few more months aboard the International Space Station. "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," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a press statement.

The Starliner — which suffered technical malfunctions on route to the space station — will now make its way back to Earth in September. It was launched in June 2024 to perform the first crewed test of Boeing's capsule that is supposed to move astronauts from Earth base to the space station. Wilmore and Williams will now make their return with SpaceX's Crew-9 mission aboard the Dragon capsule in February next year. NASA says the uncrewed Starliner return journey will not only allow it to minimize risks, but will offer NASA an opportunity to gather more data about what went wrong and improve future iterations.

The space agency is now focused on what it calls end-of-mission planning together with Boeing. Notably, the agency has expressed confidence in the Starliner's capabilities, which has already completed two uncrewed missions, and says the involved parties are focused on making crucial corrective updates for future missions. However, based on the data collected, an uncrewed return was deemed the safest route.

Wilmore and Williams were originally supposed to spend just over a week in space when they launched on June 6 aboard the Starliner. Their original return date was scheduled for June 14, although that date was soon moved out multiple time due to issues with the thruster systems, the discovery of helium leaks, and an issue with the RCS (reaction control system) oxidizer isolation valve. Based on the rate of leakage and supply at hand, NASA engineers had originally determined that the Starliner could make its return journey with ease, as it still had enough gas in the tanks for 70 hours of travel, while the actual trip only required seven hours of free flight.

However, as delays swelled from days to weeks, NASA started hashing out fail-safe plans with SpaceX without making any public announcements about it, as ArsTechnica reported earlier this month. NASA now says it plans to get the Starliner back on its return trek before the Crew-9 mission is launched in order to ensure that there's docking space available for the arrival of the Dragon vehicle. The Crew-9 mission, which was originally supposed to take four members to the space station, will now leave Earth with only two astronauts to make room for Wilmore and Williams when the shuttle returns in February 2025. 

As far as the Starliner goes, NASA plans a deep assessment to check "what additional actions are required to meet NASA's certification requirements," once it returns. That said, given its problematic performance, it could be a while before the space agency entrusts it with another mission.