NASA decided on Saturday that returning the two astronauts to the Earth in the new troubled Boeing capsule is very dangerous, and they will have to wait until next year to return home with SpaceX. What should have been a weekly trial journey for the couple, will now last more than eight months.
Experienced pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A series of annoying failures in the payment system and helium leaks in the new capsule marked their journey to the space station, and they ended up in a state of stopping while engineers conducted the tests and discussed what to do on the return trip.
Nearly three months later, the decision finally got out of NASA on Saturday. Boch Wilmor and Sony Williams will return to a Spacex capsule in February. The empty Starlaner capsule will be separated in early September and tries to return to the automated pilot while landing in the New Mexico desert.
As two test pilots for the Starlaner vehicle, he was supposed to honor this decisive stage of the trip.
“The experimental journey by its nature is neither safe nor routine,” said NASA director Bill Nelson. The decision “is the result of safety commitment.”
Mr. Nelson said that the lessons learned from NASA’s space shuttle had played a role. He pointed out that this time the open dialogue was encouraged instead of crushing it.
“This decision was not easy, but it is the right decision,” added Jim Fri, the assistant director of NASA.
Boeing “continues to focus” on safety
This was a blow to Boeing, which increased the safety of the company’s safety with regard to aircraft. Boeing was dependent on the first Starlaner crew to revive the turbulent spacecraft program after years of delay and enlargement of costs. The company insisted that Starliner is safe based on all recent payment tests in space and on Earth.
Boeing did not participate in the press conference held by NASA on Saturday, but issued a statement saying: “Boeing continues to focus, first of all, on the safety of the crew and the spacecraft.” The company said it is preparing the spacecraft “for a safe and successful return.”
Jean Osburg, of Rand, a senior aviation and defense engineer, said NASA made the right decision. “But the United States is still suffering from the problem of Starlaner’s design that should have been discovered earlier.”
Mr. Willmore, 61, and Mrs. Williams, 58, both of whom are a retired naval leader and have a long -term previous experience on space flights. Before their launch on June 5 from Cape Caperaral, both pilots said that their families absorbed the uncertainty and pressure that their career had been suffering from decades ago.
During their solo journalistic conference last month, astronauts said they trust the payment test. They added that they have no complaint, and they enjoyed participating in the work of the space station.
The wife of Mr. Willmur, Diana, was the same as the sobriety in an interview with her earlier this month with the WVLT-TV channel in Noxfil, Tennessee, their birthplace. She was already preparing to delay: “You just have to deal with it.”
Air operations director Norm Knight said that he spoke to astronauts on Saturday and that they fully support the decision to postpone their return.
There were few options.
The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is intended for the four residents there since March. They will return in late September. Their routine residence was extended for six months for a month due to the Starlaner dilemma. NASA said it would be unsafe.
The Russian Soyuz capsule is more compact, it is able to fly only for three people – two of whom are Russian, which ended for a year.
The return of “Taxi” starts in late September
So, Mr. Wilmor and Mrs. Williams will wait for the next taxi trip to Spacex. It is scheduled to be launched in late September with the two astronauts instead of the four usual. NASA is withdrawing two to make way for the testing pilots on the return trip in late February.
NASA said that Spacex’s demand was not considered a quick and independent rescue operation. Last year, the Russian Space Agency was forced to expedite the transmission of Soyuz alternative capsule to three men whose original vehicle was damaged by space waste. This switch led to the six -month mission of more than a year.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Haddield praised the decision via X: “It is good to make a mistake on the side of caution for the life of the astronauts.” Long tasks are “what astronauts work throughout their career for it. I will consider it in the heartbeat!
Starlaner’s problems have started long before her last trip.
Bad software spoiled the first experimental flight without a crew in 2019, which led to the re -mission in 2022. Then other umbrella problems, including helium leakage in the capsule payment system, emerged, which led to the abolition of an attempt to launch in May. In the end, the leakage was considered isolated and small enough so that it is not anxious. But more leaks appeared after taking off, and five engines also failed.
All of these small batches are restarted except for one. But the engineers were confused through the ground tests that showed the swelling of the payment and obstruction of the fuel line. They assumed that the seals in the orbit may have expanded and then returned to their normal size. The officials said the results were a turning point, with their increasing concerns.
In light of the uncertainty about how to perform the payment devices, Steve Stech, director of the NASA’s commercial staff program, told reporters: “There were a lot of risks for the crew.”
These 28 defenses are vital. In addition to the need to meet the space station, it maintains the capsule guidance in the right direction at the end of the trip where larger engines direct the vehicle outside the orbit. Entry may lead to a disaster.
Since the Colombia catastrophe is still present in the minds of many – as shuttle collapsed while returning to the atmosphere in 2003, killing all seven people on board – NASA made an additional effort to adopt an open discussion about Starlaner’s ability to return.
Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA does not give up Boeing. Nelson, NASA, said that he was 100% sure that Starlaner would fly again.
