HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — From just a few days -- to eight months! Talk about a change in plans... but on Saturday, that officially became the reality for two NASA astronauts who went "up" on one spacecraft... and will come "down on another, eventually.
In the meantime, Boeing's Starliner will return to earth on its own -- without astronauts Buch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard. The development is getting plenty of attention here in the rocket city. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the international space station in June aboard the Boeing crew test flight -- expecting to stay on the international space station for eight days. But days became weeks... and now, those astronauts will work as part of the expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025.
Problems with the Starliner program sent up enough red flags for NASA to call off their trip home on that spacecraft. Safety first, Nasa said, but here in rocket city, it's got a lot of people talking. Huntsville resident Nikki Wynn said her big question is -- why weren't there better preparations in case of an emergency? "I would have probably sent out, like a test dummy, like how we do with cars.
"Because everything should go from tests before you get to production."
NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters on June 6 as Starliner approached the space station. Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work. Engineers have collected data, conducted flight and ground tests, and taken other steps.
One Huntsville visitor explained that she's concerned about the safety of the astronauts traveling on board a spaceship that has seen its share of problems. "That would be very difficult and it would make me feel very anxious Obviously, if I was going to volunteer for a mission into space, I would want to have done the research on how safe the vehicle that I was traveling on is. "I reached out to Boeing about the state of the Starliner program and they told us, "Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return."
NASA, meanwhile, says it worked closely "with" boeing before making the decision to bring the astronauts home on February's Crew-9 mission -- which is the ninth crew rotation mission of spacex's space transportation system.