NASA MEDIA TELECON WITH UPDATE ON STARLINER CFT, Aug 14, 2024, virtual, 1:00 pm ET

NASA will hold a media telecon on August 14, 2024 at 1:00 pm ET to provide an update on the Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) currently docked at the International Space Station. NASA is weighing whether the Starliner spacecraft is safe enough to return NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth or if they should remain on ISS and return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon instead, with Starliner returning empty because of concerns about some of its Reaction Control System thrusters.

Presumably this briefing is to explain the status of the discussions since the agency said yesterday a decision will not be made this week.

Update: Teams working on the return plan for @NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test are making progress analyzing testing data as we evaluate the Starliner return options. We now are planning for decisional meetings no earlier than next week to give the time we need to make the best…

— NASA Space Operations (@NASASpaceOps) August 12, 2024

Audio of the media telecon will air on the agency’s website.

Participants:

• Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate [and former astronaut]
• Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate [and former ISS program manager]
• Russ DeLoach, chief, NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance
• NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba
• Emily Nelson, chief flight director, NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate