NASA says Boeing Starliner crew will return in February: ‘Our core value is safety’

NASA confirmed Saturday that the Boeing Starliner crew would remain on the International Space Station until February, emphasizing that the decision was based on safety concerns.

Administrator Bill Nelson, in a press conference Saturday, said astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been docked on the International Space Station since June, will return to Earth next year on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. 

“The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety,” Nelson said, adding that “Our core value is safety, and it is our North Star.” 

“Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision, we want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements, so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS,” he added.

The crew was launched to the space station June 5, after multiple delayed attempts due to thruster failures and helium leaks. An eight-day mission turned into a months-long adventure, as the astronauts completed testing on the spacecraft.

The Starliner capsule, which marked Boeing’s first crewed mission to space, will return to Earth unmanned in September, per the agency.

NASA’s decision represents another hit for Boeing, adding to the safety worries the aerospace company has already experienced with its airplanes. The company was banking on the Starliner’s successful trip to bolster the program whose cost and delays have increased over time. 

SpaceX’s venture, which will ultimately bring back Wilmore and Williams, is supposed to launch in late September. Instead of four, two more astronauts will lift off for a six-month mission, therefore leaving two seats for Williams and Wilmore for a return flight in February. 

“I’ll tell you that the NASA and Boeing team have made incredible technical progress in the model development that has gone on the thruster testing, understanding material properties within the valve and the complicated fluid physics that are happening inside,” Jim Free said on Saturday. “We will continue to learn. We are a learning organization.”

Updated at 2:31 p.m. EST.