The fate of the two astronauts who arrived on the Boeing Starliner is still unknown
Astronauts Barry (Butch) Wilmore and Sunita Williams took a big risk when they went on the first short-term manned flight to the ISS on the «raw» Boeing Starliner on June 5. Docking with the station showed that it was faulty, and now the issue of finding an option to return the astronauts to Earth is the main headache for NASA management. The question of whether they will be stuck in space for another six months, or whether the Starliner will be repaired and the testers will return safely on it in the very near future has not yet been resolved. What is happening now on the station itself, as well as possible options for rescuing the astronauts, which, theoretically, could also affect the political aspect, is in the material of the MK observer.
Let me remind you that problems with the new manned spacecraft Starliner began even before the originally planned launch on May 6. That flight was canceled due to a faulty safety valve in the oxygen supply system. Afterwards, the mission was postponed several more times until specialists were convinced of the reliability of all systems, and only after that they sent the ship into space. This happened on June 5.
According to the program, Wilmore and Williams, who docked with the ISS on June 6, were supposed to stay at the station for 8 days and return on the same ship. However, during the Starliner's approach to the ISS for docking, data was received about several of its engines malfunctioning at once, as well as several helium leaks….
As a result, it was decided to postpone the astronauts' descent to Earth on the problematic ship in order to avoid their possible death.
Up until August 7, Boeing's Starliner program managers had described the delays as «reasonable engineering measures.» Engineers had been trying to find the cause of the engine failures and fix the problem until the very end. But at a press conference on August 7, new information was revealed that has clearly dampened Boeing's hopes for a manned return of Butch and Sunita to Starliner. It was revealed that during a test at the Pentagon's White Sands Experimental Facility, when an engine similar to the one on the ship was fired, the engine's heat caused the Teflon seals to bulge and shut off the fuel supply.
In other words, in addition to the helium leak, which was perceived as the only problem that led to the engine failure, the ship also has a problem with Teflon. It seems that it will not be possible to solve all of them in a short time (the ship must be sent to Earth no later than early September). The Starliner must free up the port for the new ship from SpaceX, the Crew Dragon-9. And this means that there is a high probability that it itself will «go» down without people.
What then will astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have to return to Earth on? There is still no final decision on this issue. But there is a high probability that their lives will not be risked and will still be transferred to another ship. Which? And the one that is now preparing for launch is Crew Dragon-9. It was supposed to launch to the ISS on August 18 — it was assumed that by this time the docking port now occupied by the Starliner would be cleared. But since the Boeing ship is still occupying the port, the Dragon's launch has been postponed until after September 24. If the Starliner is landed without astronauts, places for their descent to Earth will be provided on this very Dragon-9. Now there is a debate at NASA about how to deal with the already well-coordinated crew of Crew Dragon-9?
Currently, the Dragon-9 crew consists of four people, including three Americans and one Russian, Alexander Gorbunov, for whom this flight should be the first in his career. If they decide to return Sunita and Butch on the Dragon (this can only happen in February 2025), then two options are being considered. The first is to cross out two current members of the Dragon-9 from the flight. Who will be on the list of these «lucky ones»? If our Alexander Gorbunov, then this threatens NASA with accusations from Russia of non-compliance with the international agreement on cross-flights.
The second option is to add two additional seats to the four available in Dragon-9. The design features of the ship allow this to be done, but NASA is concerned that this could reduce the safety of the flight for the Crew Dragon-9 crew.
Of course, there is a third option — to contact Roscosmos and purchase Soyuz-MS from us, but the ambitious US representatives are unlikely to agree to this. Thus, the safest option remains the one with «crossing out» two people from the crew that SpaceX was preparing…
Currently, there are seven members of the prime crew on the International Space Station, headed by the station commander, Russian Oleg Kononenko. He is supervised by flight engineers Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin and Americans: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominik, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps. With two «guests» — Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, there are already nine of them.
As for food and hygiene products, which, theoretically, may not be enough for the Starliner pilots who have stayed too long (possibly until 2025), they can be delivered on one of the cargo ships that periodically fly to the ISS. In particular, one of these — the Russian Progress MS-28 — will launch next week — on August 15.
The second question is what will Sunita and Butch do on the ISS? After all, they were not prepared in advance to conduct any standard experiments on board. Although, according to our specialists, this is not a very big problem, which, for example, Russian cosmonauts have already «gone through» before. Instead of a six-month expedition, they were forced to remain working in space for a year, and for this, the flight managers from Roscosmos added new tasks to the flight program.