NASA has officially launched plans to send Boeing's Starliner back to space – despite the pod that creates an international scandal that has stranded astronauts for months.
After the successful return of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on Tuesday, the Space Agency said it is committed to using the besieged Starliner capsule.
NASA emphasized the importance of having two launch systems. SpaceX is the other.
Starliner did not function before and during the mission that Williams and Wilmore brought the International Space Station (ISS) In June, NASA forced it too risky for the return flight. The couple returned to a SpaceX Dragon Capsule.
It was Boeing's first Starliner flight that brought people to space, in a project of more than $ 4.5 billion plagued by delays, glitches and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
Now NASA said that the plan is to carry out a second test flight and, if successfully, to move Starliner back to the rotation to launch astronauts to the (ISS).
Rudy Ridolfi, a veteran of the American Air Force and former space system commander, is one of the various critics who feel that NASA could set up for failure, because the space agency does not want another failed Starliner mission.
Even more early Ridolfi wondered whether the space giant can even get back on the right track.
“Given the delayed history of Boeing with Starliner schemes, it seems that they can complete fixes and complete the extra test flight, unlikely,” Ridolfi told DailyMail.com.
Boeing's Starliner -Ruimtevaartuig was plagued by technical issues, even previously launched on 5 June. NASA ultimately considered it unsafe to return Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth
Steve Stich (Center) revealed that NASA is still planning to try another shed space emission in the Boeing Starliner, despite his first mission leading to the beaches of two astronauts at the international space station
Steve Stich, the manager of the NASA commercial crew program, said: “We certainly look very carefully at Starliner.”
“Butch and Suni's return to Dragon shows for me how important it is to have two different crew transport systems,” Stich added to Tuesday's press conference.
NASA, however, admitted that Starliner should essentially go back to a deterioration and prove that it can safely wear astronauts again.
On Tuesday, Stich said that Starliner should get his certification for the Commercial Crew program.
The program has sent American astronauts the space of rockets that launched on American soil, something that had not happened since NASA retired the Space Shuttle program in 2011.
To Boeing's launch of June 2024 from Crew-9, SpaceX had dealt with the previous eight crew missions at the ISS. The first was launched in 2020.
By the time Starliner reached the ISS, however, five of his 28 reaction checking systems had failed.
As a result, the first attempt by the capsule to moor to the space station was abandoned.
In the end, the spacecraft handle successfully and Williams and Wilmore safely boarded the ISS.
Starliner also suffered helium leaks that gave NASA to send the ship home without the astronauts in September 2024 – avoiding a potential catastrophe.
According to NASA officials on Tuesday, she and Boeing made upgrades to the propulsion system of the space trial to ensure that the bow screws function well in future launchings.
Starliner will have to successfully complete a detailed mission before NASA says that the astronauts can bring back into space
Starliner will first have a test flight without a crew on board before the vehicle is reused to deliver astronauts to the ISS.
Stich added that NASA should also ensure that the vessel can dock safely with the ISS in the future – without developing the same helium leaks that the capsule had in June after it had contact with the station.
'I think that is what the second test flight requirement stimulates. NASA does not want to be in a position where they should make a decision not to return a crew with the Boeing Starliner, “said Ridolfi.
So far, NASA has already spent billions on the Starliner project of Boeing and the new setbacks will probably increase the costs even further.
In 2014, NASA Boeing initially granted a subsidy of $ 4.2 billion as part of the Commercial Crew program.
That would cover the development, testing and certification of the Starliner spacecraft, as well as the first crew missions for the ISS.
Sunita Williams gives a thumb up after he has come out of the capsule. After their first checks, the astronauts will be brought to their crews in the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston for a few days of routine health controls
After splitting along the coast of Tallahassee, Florida was helped the couple on stretchers by the medical crew of NASA. This is standard practice for astronauts whose muscles are weakened by their time in micrsweerkracht
NASA's Office of Inspector General, however, revealed in 2019 that the space agency quietly spent an extra $ 287.2 million on Boeing in 2016 to shorten the production time for Starliner.
Despite the extra payment, Starliner did not come from the launch platform with a real crew until 2024.
Due to the setbacks, Boeing is said to have also had a number of significant cost overruns that go beyond the NASA contract – which the company pays from its own pocket.
The company has expressed at least $ 5 billion more to finance Starliner.
According to Ars Technica, the total losses of the company on Starliner reached $ 1.85 billion from October 2024.
Earlier, NASA's office of the Inspector General has called for 'financial fines' about the Starliner -debacle, which attributed it to Boeing's 'not -compliance with quality control'.
Asked if NASA was worried that Boeing could eventually leave the commercial crew program, Stich said on Tuesday that he saw 'an obligation' of the space giant to continue their work on repairing Starliner.
Regarding who would pay for a framed test mission from Starliner, Stich said that NASA wants to make the 'post-certification' phase part of the existing contract with several billions of dollars.
Ridolfi added that the news on Friday that Boeing had received a new contract to build the next generation of fighter jets of the US Army, could even further aggravate the problems with Boeing's budget.
“I would expect them to negotiate a contract change for the extra test flight,” the Air Force veteran explained.
A complete timeline of the Starliner program of Boeing, from singing their enormous contact to the incident, so that two astronauts were stranded on board the ISS
NASA is currently planning to launch crew-11 in mid-July 2025. Those astronauts will illuminate crew-10, which arrived in March to replace Williams, Wilmore and two other astronauts.
Currently, NASA said they have five SpaceX Dragon Capsule available for that mission.
Stich and other officials have not made any commitments to use Starliner for the Crew-12 mission, at the end of 2025 or early 2026.
However, Stich was still hopeful that NASA would have both SpaceX and Boeing capsules available to them and even said that one day Starliner could one day save astronauts if there was ever a problem with a SpaceX Dragon Capsule.
