NASA said Saturday that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return to Earth with SpaceX since their Starliner ship had problems on the way to the International Space Station.
According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Butch and Suni will return with [SpaceX’s] Crew 9 next February, while Starliner will return without any crew. Nelson said this at a press meeting on Saturday afternoon. “Be aware that Boeing and NASA have put in a lot of work to gather the information we need to make this choice.”
The head of NASA said that Starliner is “an important part” of how NASA crews get to the ISS. Nelson also said that he had talked to Kelly Ortberg, who is the new CEO of Boeing. He said, “I told him how well Boeing worked with our team to make this choice.”
The Starliner rocket took off on June 5 and arrived at the ISS the next day. Since then, NASA and Boeing BA 1.27% have had problems with helium leaks and engine problems. At first, it was thought that the capsule would stay at the orbiting space lab for at least eight days before returning the two men to Earth. It’s been over 70 days since they got there.
The crew flight test, which has been pushed back several times in the past few years, is the Starliner capsule’s first journey with people on board. And when it was launched in June, it was the first time that NASA had three vehicles with people on board in orbit.
The Crew-9 mission from SpaceX will leave for the ISS no earlier than September 24. Boeing stock was up 1.3% at the end of Friday’s trading.
