NASA has decided to rely on SpaceX to bring home two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since early June due to issues with their Boeing spacecraft, the agency announced on Saturday.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were initially expected to return to Earth aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, will instead make the journey back in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. This decision comes after months of speculation and internal debate at NASA over the safest and most effective way to bring the astronauts home. Originally, their mission was planned to last about eight days, but complications with the Starliner have extended their stay.
The problems with Boeing’s Starliner are a significant blow to the company’s space ambitions, marking yet another challenge in its efforts to compete with SpaceX. Even before Wilmore and Williams' mission began in June, the Starliner program had already faced budget overruns exceeding $1.5 billion and was years behind schedule.
NASA’s top officials, including Administrator Bill Nelson, gathered in Houston on Saturday for a formal review of test results from both in-space and ground evaluations. The decision to switch to SpaceX was officially announced at a news briefing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Although NASA has now determined the astronauts' return plan, their journey home won’t happen right away. Wilmore and Williams are set to remain on the ISS for about six more months, with their return slated for February. NASA has decided to allocate two seats on an upcoming SpaceX mission, Crew-9, to bring the astronauts back to Earth. Crew-9, which is scheduled to launch on September 24 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will transport a new rotation of ISS crew members, and Wilmore and Williams will return in the open seats at the end of that mission.
Meanwhile, the troubled Starliner capsule will return to Earth without a crew, according to NASA’s latest update.
NASA’s decision comes after weeks of uncertainty, contrasting with Boeing’s more confident public statements. Boeing had maintained that tests conducted in space and on the ground showed that the Starliner was safe for the astronauts’ return. However, Boeing officials have been notably absent from recent NASA briefings regarding the Starliner mission, and the company hasn’t posted any mission updates since August 2. In their last statement, Boeing expressed confidence in the Starliner’s ability to safely bring the astronauts home.
Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 6, but the mission was marred by significant technical issues. As the Starliner approached the ISS, five of its thrusters failed, leading to a nearly hour-long delay in docking. Additionally, mission managers identified a helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system, a problem that was known before launch but worsened during the flight.
NASA and Boeing engineers spent weeks analyzing these issues using a test engine intended for future Starliner missions. The team also conducted two “hot fire tests” in space, which involved firing the capsule’s thrusters in short bursts while it remained docked at the ISS.
The June 5 launch of Wilmore and Williams marked the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, a critical test intended to pave the way for NASA to certify the spacecraft for regular astronaut transport to and from the ISS. With the mission’s setbacks, it’s now unclear how NASA will move forward with the Starliner certification process, especially in light of the crewed test flight’s performance.
In contrast, SpaceX has been successfully transporting NASA astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020. Both Boeing and SpaceX developed their spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was launched in 2011 to encourage private companies to develop new space vehicles for low-Earth orbit missions following the retirement of NASA’s space shuttles.