NASA has made the decision to delay the return of two test pilots from the International Space Station (ISS) due to safety concerns surrounding Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been stranded in space since June due to a series of technical failures with the capsule. As a result, they will now have to wait until February to return to Earth in a SpaceX spacecraft.
The decision was made after nearly three months of discussions and testing, with NASA officials determining that it was too risky to bring the astronauts back in the troubled Starliner capsule. Boeing, the company behind Starliner, had hoped that the first crewed flight of the capsule would help revive the troubled program, but ongoing technical issues have forced a delay in the return of the pilots.
The SpaceX capsule currently docked at the ISS is reserved for four residents who have been onboard since March, and it would be unsafe to squeeze two more astronauts into the capsule. As a result, Wilmore and Williams will wait for the next SpaceX taxi flight in late September, which will have two astronauts instead of the usual four onboard.
Despite the setback, NASA remains committed to Boeing and is confident that Starliner will eventually fly again. The agency had initially hoped for two competing US companies to ferry astronauts to the ISS, with SpaceX already successfully completing several missions. NASA now hopes that Starliner’s technical problems can be resolved in time for another crewed flight in the future.
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