NASA Likely to Significantly Delay Crew 9 Launch Due to Starliner Issues

NASA is planning a significant delay in the launch of the Crew 9 mission to the International Space Station due to concerns about the Starliner spacecraft currently docked to the station.

While the space agency hasn’t said anything publicly, sources say NASA is expected to announce a decision this week. Officials are considering moving the Crew-9 mission from its current Aug. 18 date to Sept. 24, a significant delay.

Nominally, the Crew Dragon mission will carry NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, the spacecraft commander; Nick Hague, the pilot; and Stephanie Wilson, the mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, on a six-month journey to the space station. However, NASA is considering alternatives to the crew composition — perhaps launching with two astronauts instead of four — due to ongoing discussions about the feasibility of Starliner to safely return astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth.

As of late last week, NASA had still not decided whether the Starliner spacecraft, which is built and operated by Boeing, should be used to fly the two crew members home. Five small engines on the Starliner spacecraft failed during launch and ascent to the space station two months ago. After extensive ground testing of the engines, as well as several short space firings, NASA had planned to make a decision last week on whether to return the Starliner with the crew. But a flight readiness review scheduled for last Thursday was delayed by internal disagreements at NASA over Starliner safety.

At issue is the efficiency of the small engines that control the reaction system near the space station. If the right combination of them fails before Starliner gets far enough away from the station, Starliner could become uncontrollable and crash into the space station. These engines are also needed later on the return flight to Earth to trigger the critical deorbit burn and reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Struggles with software

NASA has been quietly studying the possibility of returning a crew aboard Dragon for more than a month. Because NASA and Boeing engineers have not yet identified the cause of the engine failure, the likelihood of Wilmore and Williams returning aboard a Dragon spacecraft has increased over the past 10 days. NASA has consistently said that “crew safety” will be its number one priority in deciding how to proceed.

The delay to Crew 9 is significant to Starliner’s dilemma for a few reasons. First, it gives NASA more time to determine Starliner’s flightworthiness. But there’s another surprising reason for the delay—the need to update Starliner’s flight software. Three separate, well-placed sources confirmed to Ars that Starliner’s current flight software can’t perform an automatic dodge from the space station and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

At first glance, this seems absurd. After all, Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test 2 mission in May 2022 was a fully automated test of the Starliner vehicle. During that mission, the spacecraft flew to the space station without a crew on board, then returned to Earth six days later. Although the 2022 flight test was completed by a different Starliner vehicle, it clearly demonstrated the program’s flight software’s ability to autonomously dock and return to Earth. Boeing did not respond to a media inquiry about why this capability was removed for the crewed flight test.