Date for Boeing Starliner CFT Return Still Up in the Air

Today NASA and Boeing pushed back on the narrative that the Starliner crew is stranded in space, but declined to provide a date for when they will return. Starliner is ready to bring NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back home anytime if there is an emergency, but otherwise they want to collect more data before deciding on a date.  They also are holding off on deciding when to try again to accomplish a spacewalk after two attempts this month were scrubbed.

NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut, and Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, participated in a telecon with reporters today to provide an update on Starliner and other operations ongoing at the International Space Station.  Joining them were Boeing Vice President and Program Manager for Commercial Crew Mark Nappi, NASA Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson, and NASA ISS Operations Integration Manager Bill Spetch.

All painted a positive picture of ISS operations despite the two spacewalks that were scrubbed on June 13 and June 24 and the extension of the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) because of problems with Starliner’s Reaction Control  System (RCS) thrusters and helium leaks.

Their main message is that there is no rush to bring Butch and Suni back to Earth and they want to keep Starliner docked to the ISS while they try to determine exactly what is wrong with the thrusters and leaks.  They understand the issues well enough to be confident it can bring the astronauts back to Earth anytime if needed, but otherwise they want to stay in orbit to allow testing that can only be done in space. Originally NASA said Starliner could remain at ISS for only 45 days because of the lifetime of the batteries in the Crew Module, but they are reassessing that timeline.

They’ve decided to conduct thruster tests at NASA’s White Sands, New Mexico facility beginning Tuesday and lasting “a couple of weeks,” Stich said. They’ll decide when to bring the crew home after the tests are done and they determine if more on-orbit propulsion system tests are needed.  The thrusters as well as the helium leaks are in the Service Module, which does not come back to Earth.  It detaches from the Crew Module and burns up in the atmosphere. Whatever testing needs to be done must be accomplished before reentry.

“We have the luxury of time,” Bowersox explained. Butch and Suni have plenty of productive work they can do on the ISS and also have time to relax. Both are veteran NASA astronauts who previously spent long durations on the ISS as well as experienced Navy test pilots. If necessary, they can come home anytime, but otherwise NASA and Boeing would like to take advantage of being in space to do whatever tests are necessary.

“The real question is — are we willing to put our crew on the spacecraft to bring them home? When it is a contingency situation, we’re ready to put the crew on the spacecraft and bring them home. For a nominal entry we want to look at the data before we make the final call to put the crew aboard the vehicle.” — Ken Bowersox

Stressing once again that this is a test flight, Bowersox, Stich and Nappi insisted that Butch and Suni are not “stranded in space” as some media headlines have proclaimed.

Separately, NASA had planned to conduct three spacewalks over three weeks to perform a variety of maintenance tasks on the outside of the ISS.  The first, on June 13, was scrubbed when NASA astronaut Matt Dominick experienced “spacesuit discomfort” about an hour before he and fellow NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson were getting ready to exit the airlock.

The second was scrubbed on June 24 when a lot of water spewed into the airlock when Dyson disconnected an umbilical connecting her spacesuit to ISS systems that provide water, air, and other life support essentials. She and her spacewalk partner that day, Mike Barratt, had already opened the hatch to exit the ISS and the water turned into snowflakes. They were able to close the hatch and safely get back inside the main part of the ISS.

Today Spetch and Nelson said they have not been able to replicate the failure and need more time to understand what happened. The water leak was from ISS umbilical, not the spacesuit, but they have to check both sides of that interface.

The third spacewalk was planned for July 2, but now will wait until sometime at the end of July.

Today’s telecon also touched on yesterday’s announcement that NASA selected SpaceX to develop a deorbit vehicle for the ISS. Spetch said it will be based on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, but declined to say more until the Source Selection Statement is publicly posted.