NASA Has Asked SpaceX to Postpone Its Next Flight. It Could Potentially Need It to Rescue the Boeing Crew

The crew members aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft have been at the International Space Station (ISS) for two months. There are rumors of a possible rescue, which is putting pressure on NASA. Meanwhile, the space agency has just delayed its next astronaut rotation.

Crew-9 mission delay. The next launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft was initially scheduled for Aug. 18. However, NASA has adjusted the launch date to “no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24” for greater “operational flexibility.”

According to a NASA statement, “This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.”

All attention is on Starliner. Boeing and NASA engineers are currently investigating the failure of five maneuvering engines that prevented the first docking attempt of the company's Starliner spacecraft with the ISS on June 6.

Boeing has stated that the return of the two crew members, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, is safe. Its engineers have conducted extensive ground tests and powered up the spacecraft in orbit, but NASA hasn’t yet made a decision on the return of its astronauts.

Some background. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lifted off on June 5 for its final test mission before starting commercial flights to low-Earth orbit.

Wilmore and Williams, the first Starliner crew members, arrived at the ISS the following day for a planned eight- to 10-day stay.

However, they remain without a return date while engineers are investigating five small helium leaks on the spacecraft and the failure of five of the 28 thrusters in the reaction control system (one of which could not be recovered).

What about the SpaceX's Crew Dragon? It’s rumored that there’s a 50% chance the Starliner crewmembers will return home on a different ship. This would mean making room for them on a Crew Dragon, possibly by sacrificing two seats on the upcoming Crew-9 mission.

As Ars Technica reports, the reason for this potential delay of five and a half weeks could potentially be related to Starliner’s flight software. Unlike the 2022 Starliner that flew to the ISS, the current Starliner’s flight software is unable to autonomously perform the undocking and atmospheric re-entry maneuver. Therefore, flying the Starliner without a crew would require a major software upgrade.

Other reasons for the delay. The Crew-9 mission will be SpaceX’s first manned liftoff from Space Force Station’s SLC-40 pad. To accommodate this, engineers have made the necessary retrofitting to the launch tower, with emergency systems and new infrastructure.

NASA relocated this mission from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A pad in order to “deconflict with pad preparations for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission beginning this September.”

Meanwhile, Russia is gearing up for its next astronaut rotation on the ISS with a Soyuz mission scheduled for September. This could be a contributing factor to the extended delay of the Crew-9 mission.

This article was written by Matías S. Zavia and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.

Image | NASA

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