Once-Stranded Astronaut Says That NASA Went Against the Protocol to Save Them: ‘These Folks Are Heroes’

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned home after a nine-month extended mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Since then, they’ve largely stayed away from the political controversies surrounding the mission. However, in a recent interview with Ars Technica, Wilmore revealed that the Starliner spacecraft’s failure was wilder than previously reported.

Pre-launch delays. Everything was ready for the Starliner spacecraft’s launch in early May. Wilmore and Williams had begun their quarantine–a standard procedure to minimize the risk of spreading viruses or infectious diseases to other crewmembers on the ISS.

However, a valve issue with the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur stage and a helium leak on the Starliner itself delayed the launch for several weeks. Concerned that his skills were becoming outdated, Wilmore requested to return to Houston to continue practicing in the simulator. Finally, astronauts were able to lift off on June 5, 2024.

It’s cold aboard the spacecraft. The launch of Starliner was smooth and remarkably precise, even more so than NASA astronauts had anticipated. It didn’t require the typical trajectory corrections they had practiced in simulators or had experienced during past missions.

However, Wilmore and Williams faced an unexpected challenge: The cabin temperature was uncomfortably cold. Designed to accommodate four astronauts (or up to seven for non-NASA missions), the cabin temperature dropped below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, causing both astronauts to sleep in their spacesuits for warmth.

Loss of thrusters. Issues that would impact the mission began to arise on the second day. While approaching the ISS autonomously, Starliner started losing thrusters.

Boeing’s spacecraft is equipped with 28 jet thrusters, which are used for maneuvering in orbit. These thrusters are positioned facing backward, forward, and in three radial directions. They help control the spacecraft’s position and orientation, enabling it to dock safely with an ISS port and deorbit as it returns to its landing site.

A tense approach to the ISS. During an unmanned test in May 2022, thrusters experienced some performance issues. Wilmore was concerned that these problems might resurface, and that’s exactly what happened.

As the spacecraft made its final approach to the ISS, it lost two thrusters, prompting Wilmore to take manual control to maintain the correct trajectory. Unfortunately, the situation worsened when the spacecraft lost a third and, shortly after that, a fourth. With the loss of all four thrusters, the spacecraft was no longer able to move in one of the necessary directions for the approach.

A decision against protocol. Official procedures dictated that, at this point, they should abort the approach to the ISS and return to Earth. Continuing the docking attempt was deemed too risky for them, the ISS crew, and the $100 billion orbital laboratory.

However, Wilmore and Williams felt that turning back amid so many failures would also be dangerous. “I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point. I don’t know if we can. And matter of fact, I’m thinking we probably can’t,” Wilmore said in an interview.

To make matters worse, NASA astronauts found themselves below the ISS, traveling faster than the station and drifting away from it. Despite the protocol, flight director Ed Van Cise decided to proceed with the docking maneuver.

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Heroes. “These people are heroes… Heroes put their tank on and they run into a fiery building and pull people out of it… Heroes also sit in their cubicle for decades studying their systems, and knowing their systems front and back,” Wilmore told Ars Technica.

He added, “When there is no time to assess a situation and go and talk to people and ask, ‘What do you think?’ they know their system so well they come up with a plan on the fly. That is a hero. And there are several of them in [NASA’s] Mission Control.”

Have you tried turning it off and on again? Van Cise informed Wilmore of the plan. The NASA astronaut released the controls, and shortly after, mission controllers sent a command to the Starliner to reboot its systems.

Turning the spacecraft off and on worked. Astronauts were able to regain control of the thrusters, although a fifth thruster failed permanently and was never recovered. With the assistance of the Mission Control Center, the spacecraft managed to return to autonomous mode and dock with the ISS.

NASA’s decision. Had Wilmore lost the fifth thruster while manually navigating with four fewer, the spacecraft would have been without the redundant maneuvering capability needed to control its reentry. That would’ve been catastrophic.

Boeing cooperated with the investigation in the following months and expressed confidence in Starliner. However, the decision to have the spacecraft return empty while the two crewmembers remained on the ISS until the next astronaut rotation makes a lot of sense now.

Starliner’s future. The spacecraft remains uncertified for manned flights to the ISS. Boeing has incurred a loss of $1.6 billion on its development. However, NASA has contracted for six flights and intends to certify it for operational trips to the space station next year.

While new seals appear to have resolved helium leaks, propulsion failures remain unresolved. As such, NASA and Boeing engineers will conduct a series of extensive tests at the agency’s White Sands facility in New Mexico to validate possible modifications. These include thermal barriers and changes to propulsion pulses.

According to NASA, the next flight of the Starliner spacecraft to the ISS won’t occur until late this year or early next year. A new flight demonstration is necessary because Boeing was unable to recover the service module containing the problematic thrusters.

By design, like Crew Dragon and other spacecraft, the service module isn’t intended for reentry and detaches from the spacecraft before returning to Earth. Boeing believes the thrusters failed due to corrosion formation and moisture buildup. The company also blames its manufacturer, Aerojet Rocketdyne. Unfortunately, evidence was destroyed upon reentry into the atmosphere shortly after the spacecraft’s return.

Images | NASA

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