NASA has announced that will use a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for its two 2025 astronaut rotations. But SpaceX has been handling these flights since 2020, so what’s the news? Well, one of them was originally assigned to Boeing’s Starliner.
The problem. NASA had hoped to have Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft certified in time for a routine mission in February 2025. However, technical problems that arose during its first crewed flight to the International Space Station have once again delayed its certification.
The solution. NASA has advanced SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission to February 2025 to cover the first operational flight with Boeing astronauts, called Starliner-1.
While Starliner-1 is now virtually scheduled for August 2025, the space agency isn’t confident Boeing’s craft will be ready to transport astronauts by summer, so it has instead moved up SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission to July 2025.
Crew-10 and Crew-11. Crew-10 will be a routine six-month mission to the International Space Station with two American astronauts (Anne McClain, commander, and Nichole Ayers, pilot), a Japanese astronaut (Takuya Onishi) and a Russian cosmonaut (Kirill Peskov).
Crew-11 will be the second routine six-month mission of 2025, making up for what Boeing will not be able to cover. But it was expected in 2026, so its crew has not yet been officially announced.
Suni and Butch. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who ascended to the International Space Station in a Starliner spacecraft as part of a 10-day test mission, are still in space four months later.
Their Starliner returned to Earth empty due to problems with the Boeing ship’s maneuvering thrusters, so Suni and Butch are now part of the main crew of the ISS. They will return to Earth in February 2025 aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft from the Crew-9 mission, which launched with two free seats for them.
What about Boeing. NASA has yet to decide whether the Starliner spacecraft will require another test flight before being certified for operational missions. Starliner flights have been delayed indefinitely pending this decision.
Boeing has not issued a statement, but is reviewing data from the test mission with NASA to understand the problem with the ship’s propellants and helium leaks. It is not an easy task, since only the capsule has been recovered: the service module, where the controversial RCS system was located, was designed to burn in the atmosphere as occurs with the trunk of the Crew Dragon.
Two ships are better than one. The seat-sharing agreement between NASA and the Russian agency Roscosmos has not yet been renewed and could end in March 2025 with the launch of astronaut Jonny Kim in a Soyuz capsule.
From there, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ship will be the United States’ only option to reach low Earth orbit until the Starliner is ready. Having two ships available is better than having one, but Boeing is losing a lot of money in its development, and there is no room left to recover it in the five years that remain of the life of the International Space Station, especially if NASA continues not to tolerate no risk. The future of the program is unknown.
Image | SpaceX
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