Boeing to return empty capsule to Earth soon. Two NASA astronauts to stay behind

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing will attempt to return its problem capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats.

NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner Capsule The fully automated capsule is scheduled to detach from the space station Friday evening. Six hours later, it is expected to land at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

NASA two astronauts stuck The astronauts who flew aboard Starliner will remain in the orbiting lab. They will return home with SpaceX in February, eight months after their launch, on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight. Propellant problems and helium leaks continued to delay their return until NASA decided it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner as originally planned.

“It’s been a journey to get here and we’re thrilled that Starliner is coming home,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager.

NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now considered full-time members of the station’s crew, alongside the seven other people on board, contributing to experiments and maintenance.

To make room for them on SpaceX’s next taxi flight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four. Two of them were removed late last week from the six-month expedition, which is scheduled to take off in late September. Boeing must clear the parking space for SpaceX’s arrival.

Boeing encountered serious flaws with Starliner well before the June 5 liftoff in the long-delayed astronaut demonstration.

Starliner’s first test flight in 2019 went so poorly (the capsule never reached the space station due to software errors) that the mission was repeated three years later. More problems arose, leading to more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.

The capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and helium leaks from the propulsion system by the time it reached the space station after launch. Boeing conducted extensive testing of the thrusters in space and on the ground, and claimed the capsule could safely return astronauts. But NASA disagreed, prompting the complex flight change.

The stranded astronauts — retired Navy captains — have lived on the space station before and settled in quite well, NASA officials say.

A decade ago, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station after its shuttles retired. SpaceX accomplished that feat in 2020 and has since launched nine crews for NASA and four for private customers.

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