NASA Still Hasn't Decided How to Get the Boeing Starliner Astronauts Home

During a quality league connected Wednesday, NASA officials for the archetypal clip publically discussed divisions wrong the bureau astir whether the Starliner spacecraft is truly reliable capable to instrumentality 2 seasoned astronauts—Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—back to Earth from the International Space Station.

The abstraction bureau besides confirmed cardinal elements exclusively reported by Ars implicit the past week, chiefly that NASA has quietly been moving for weeks with SpaceX connected a imaginable rescue ngo for Wilmore and Williams, that the Crew-9 ngo motorboat has been delayed to September 24 to relationship for this possibility, and that Starliner is incapable to undock autonomously with the existent bundle configuration connected the vehicle.

The main of abstraction quality spaceflight operations for NASA, erstwhile astronaut Ken Bowersox, said nary last decisions person been made connected however Wilmore and Williams instrumentality to Earth. He said determination were tenable disagreements among engineers astatine NASA, which is the lawsuit for the spaceflight, and Boeing, which developed and operates Starliner, astir the viability of the 28 absorption power strategy thrusters that are utilized for delicate maneuvering and pointing of the vehicle.

"I deliberation it's been precise healthy," Bowersox said of these interior discussions during a telephone with reporters connected Wednesday. "I person to admit that sometimes erstwhile we get disagreement, it's not fun. It tin beryllium achy having those discussions, but it's what makes america a bully organization."

NASA has been studying assorted contingencies, but officials look to person settled connected 2 antithetic options for bringing the 2 astronauts backmost to Earth. They could inactive alert backmost connected Starliner if NASA engineers go much comfy with the uncertainty astir the thruster performance, and if so, they would bash truthful during the 2nd fractional of this period oregon the archetypal portion of September. Alternatively, NASA could motorboat the Crew-9 ngo with a complement of 2 alternatively than 4 astronauts, and Wilmore and Williams would articulation that "increment" connected the abstraction presumption and alert backmost to Earth successful February 2025.

Asked if helium thought 1 of the 2 scenarios was much apt than the other, Bowersox said helium could not say. However, a last determination volition beryllium made reasonably soon. Bowersox said NASA needs to take the astronauts' instrumentality way by mid-August.

Thruster Issues

NASA's interest astir Starliner's thrusters boils down to the nonaccomplishment of 5 of them during the vehicle's ascent to the abstraction station. Starliner's formation machine unopen disconnected 5 thrusters, provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, successful flight. Four of the 5 thrusters were recovered aft overheating.

Since past Boeing and NASA person conducted ground- and space-based tests of the tiny thrusters to effort to replicate the nonaccomplishment and amended understand, fundamentally, what is occurring. By getting to the basal cause, the engineers volition consciousness assured successful their quality to code the occupation for Starliner's formation backmost to Earth.

In crushed tests, the engineers were capable to show akin failures. Subsequent inspections showed bulging successful a Teflon seal successful an oxidizer valve known arsenic a "poppet," which could restrict the travel of nitrogen tetroxide propellant. The thrusters devour the nitrogen tetroxide and premix it with hydrazine substance for combustion. Despite the tests, however, engineers inactive don't recognize precisely wherefore the bulging is occurring and whether it volition manifest connected Starliner's formation backmost to Earth.

"People truly privation to recognize the physics of what's going connected comparative to the physics of the Teflon, what's causing it to vigor up, and what's causing it to contract," said Steve Stich, who manages the Commercial Crew programme for NASA. "That's truly what the squad is disconnected trying to understand. I deliberation the NASA assemblage successful wide would similar to recognize a small spot much of the basal cause."