Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station aboard a faulty Boeing Starliner capsule will return to Earth with rival SpaceX early next year, the US space agency said on Saturday.
American astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams launched to the ISS on the first manned test flight of the Starliner on June 5 for what was planned as a week-long mission.
However, the capsule's propulsion system suffered a series of glitches in the first 24 hours of its flight leaving the veteran astronauts stranded on the station for 79 days now.
On Saturday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson told a press conference that Wilmore and Williams will return home in February 2025 while Starliner will return uncrewed.
What's NASA's new plan?
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission will lift off late in September, after the Boeing capsule has headed towards the Earth, freeing a docking port on the ISS.
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission will carry only two passengers instead of the four planned originally.
NASA and SpaceX are working to reconfigure seats on the Crew-9 Dragon, "and adjusting the manifest to carry additional cargo, personal effects, and Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams," the space agency said.
Boeing's woes
NASA's space operations chief Ken Bowersox said agency officials unanimously voted for Crew Dragon to bring the astronauts home. Boeing voted for Starliner, saying that it was safe.
The rescue of the astronauts by its biggest space rival is a fresh public relations blow to a crisis-hit Boeing.
Boeing had pinned hopes on its Starliner test mission to redeem the troubled program after years of development issues and over $1.6 billion in budget overruns since 2016.
"I know this is not the decision we had hoped for, but we stand ready to carry out the action's necessary to support NASA's decision," Boeing's Starliner chief Mark Nappi said in an email to employees.
"The focus remains first and foremost on ensuring the safety of the crew and spacecraft," he said.
Nelson said NASA had not lost confidence in Boeing and plans to continue working with the aviation giant so the space agency will have two vehicles capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the ISS.
He added he was "100 percent sure Boeing will launch Starliner again with a crew on board."
Officials have said that Wilmore and Williams — both former military test pilots —have plenty of supplies, and are trained for extended stays.
NASA said they will use their extra time to conduct science experiments alongside the station's seven other astronauts.
