NASA remains to be not sure when it is going to subsequent put astronauts on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which skilled points throughout its first crewed take a look at flight this summer season.
Starliner’s subsequent “potential” crewed mission to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) in 2025 “will likely be decided as soon as a greater understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established,” NASA officers wrote in an announcement on Tuesday (Oct. 15).
NASA and Boeing are nonetheless reviewing the necessities for Starliner’s certification, after propulsion issues arose on the primary take a look at flight with astronauts, which launched on June 5, company officers added. “NASA will present extra data when obtainable,” the company added.
The launch of Starliner’s first astronaut mission, referred to as Crew Flight Take a look at (CFT), went to plan, however docking with the ISS on June 6 was troublesome. 5 out of 28 thrusters within the capsule’s response management system had points within the leadup, inflicting a delay. CFT astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams of NASA ended up arriving safely on the orbiting lab, however their deliberate 10-day mission was prolonged repeatedly as engineers troubleshot the problems.
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Intensive floor and area testing didn’t sufficiently allay NASA’s issues, so Starliner departed with out astronauts and landed autonomously on Sept. 6. Wilmore and Williams stay onboard the ISS and have been reassigned to return residence on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February 2025. That Crew Dragon launched on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission final month, carrying two astronauts as a substitute of the same old 4 to make room for the Starliner duo.
Propulsion points with Starliner additionally arose on its two uncrewed take a look at flights in 2019 and 2022, which NASA and Boeing each thought had been resolved previous to flying Williams and Wilmore.
Earlier than the CFT propulsion points arose, the primary operational mission of the Boeing spacecraft — generally known as Starliner-1 — was anticipated to fly in 2025. Assigned thus far to the Starliner-1 mission are NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Mike Fincke, and Canadian Area Company astronaut Joshua Kutryk.
NASA’s replace didn’t present data on the crew’s standing ought to Starliner require a second take a look at flight with astronauts, or if this system in any other case considerably modifications.
In previous discussions with reporters, NASA officers have mentioned they’re attempting to find out if Starliner carried out effectively sufficient on CFT to satisfy the certification necessities to fly operational ISS missions like Starliner-1.
NASA launched the replace on Starliner operations amid an extended dialogue about ISS crewed flights in 2025. Because the company said earlier than, SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission — the tenth operational astronaut flight by the corporate — will fly in February 2025. On board will likely be NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), together with mission specialists Takuya Onishi from JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) and Kirill Peskov, from the Russian area company Roscosmos.
Crew-11 will then carry out the subsequent area station rotation no sooner than July, NASA added within the replace. The four-astronaut crew for that mission has not but been introduced.
Crew-9 is predicted to return residence in February 2025, with Williams, Wilmore and astronauts Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos). Former Crew-9 astronauts Nicole Stott and Stephanie Wilson are eligible for future ISS missions following their last-minute elimination from the mission in September.
