What was meant to be an eight-day mission on June 5th has turned into an eight-month stay at the International Space Station, as the two astronauts onboard the Starliner will not be returning to Earth until February 2025. They will not return on the Starliner vessel but on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, a ship for the Crew-9 mission set to launch in September. The spacecraft will carry two astronauts instead of four and will hold more cargo and Dragon-specific spacesuits for the Starliner crew.
Boeing’s Starliner hosted astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore in the first crewed test flight of the spacecraft. The spacecraft faced issues with its thrusters and a helium leak, which interrupted the process of pushing fuel into the propulsion system. The problems snowballed as 5 of 28 reaction control thrusters malfunctioned while docking the spacecraft on the ISS, which put a significant question mark on the safety of a return trip. NASA and Boeing did not waste any time trying to see if they could troubleshoot the problem; as of now, no solutions have been reached.
According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the decision to keep the astronauts on board the ISS and bring the crewless Starliner capsule is a commitment to safety. A test flight is always risky; safety becomes an important parameter in such situations.
Space accidents have plagued the space age before, notably the Columbia accident in 2003. New safety standards have been implemented to prevent such accidents in space, and this mission is an example of how malfunctions and the safety risks they impose are being tackled more optimistically.
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