NASA astronauts await decision on return

Log entry: Day 71.

Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams are waiting. Boeing Waiting for us. In the halls of NASA, leaders and engineers gather, analyze and deliberate.

Boeing’s Starliner “Calyps” capsule has been at the International Space Station since early June, on a mission that has been extended indefinitely while the company and NASA try to determine why several of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during docking.

These engines, part of the spacecraft’s propulsion system, are key to Starliner’s return from the International Space Station, but NASA is still unsure whether the capsule is safe to return with the astronauts on board.

“Our big concern is to achieve a successful deorbit burn – and make sure that [propulsion] “The system is working the way it needs to throughout the burn during deorbit,” NASA Deputy Administrator Ken Bowersox told reporters during a news conference Wednesday. “That’s why we’re looking closely at the thrusters and even thinking about how the larger thrusters will work.”

NASA has already adjusted SpaceX’s upcoming launch schedule for astronauts bound for the International Space Station, but it needs to decide soon whether to return Starliner crewed or empty — or delay its current plans further. If Starliner returns empty, SpaceX would be a rescue option to bring Wilmore and Williams back.

The final round of data analysis is expected to be completed by Aug. 23, Bowersox said, which will lead NASA to conduct a flight readiness review, a critical moment in how Starliner returns.

Boeing has made its case to NASA about why it is confident Starliner is safe, going so far as to make public appeals about the amount of propulsion testing that has been done. But the final decision, expected before the end of August, will be NASA’s and could come down to its chief executive, Bill Nelson.

Originally intended to last about nine days, the Starliner crewed flight was meant to be Boeing’s last square and a major asset for NASA, which had hoped to realize its dream of two competing companies — Boeing and SpaceX — flying alternate missions to the International Space Station.

Instead, the flight test further erodes Boeing’s progress in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and with the company already racking up losses of more than $1.5 billion, it threatens the company’s future involvement with it.

As for the astronauts themselves, NASA’s chief of mission safety, Ross D. Loesch, said Wilmaur and Williams will “do their jobs as astronauts” and trust the agency’s decision-making process.

NASA’s astronaut office chief, Joe Acaba, confirmed that the duo are test pilots who are taking the risk voluntarily and intentionally.

“This mission is a test flight, and as Butch and Sonny stated before they launched, they knew this mission might not be ideal,” Akaba said. “Human spaceflight is inherently risky, and as astronauts we accept that as part of the job.”

Spacecraft are often named after famous naval vessels: Williams named Starliner “Calyps” in honor of Jacques Cousteau’s research vessel, which was in turn named after the mythical Greek nymph.

Currently, Boeing’s spacecraft shares an unfortunate resemblance to its namesake – a seriously damaged craft with an indefinite timetable for repair – as well as an uncanny resemblance to its namesake – the craft that trapped the hero Odysseus for seven years against his will.