NASA Defends Its Decision To Exclude Sunita Williams From Starliner Mission

Amidst successful unscrewed landing of Boeing’s Starliner to earth, NASA talks about its decision to exclude Sunita William & butch wilmore from the spacecraft.

Why Boeing Arrived Without Its Astronauts?

William and Wilmore initially launched aboard the Starliner on June 5 for what was planned as an eight-day mission.

However, due to issues such as helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, the spacecraft was deemed unsuitable for their return journey.

NASA, prioritizing crew safety, decided that the astronauts would return to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in 2025.

Despite the Starliner’s smooth landing, NASA acknowledged technical difficulties, including a thruster malfunction and a temporary guidance system blackout during reentry.

Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, described the landing as a “bullseye” but reaffirmed the decision to keep the astronauts off the capsule, saying  “I think we made the right decision…All of us feel happy about the successful landing. But then there’s a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it.”

Supporting this view, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate Ken Bowersox supported this view said “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible.”

Also Read: NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Report Mysterious ‘Sonar-Like’ Noises from Faulty Starliner Capsule

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are scheduled to address the media on September 13 from the ISS. Meanwhile, Boeing’s future with the Starliner program remains uncertain. Analyst Ron Epstein of Bank of America suggested that Boeing may face challenges in securing future manned spaceflight contracts and might consider exiting the manned spaceflight sector due to the capsule’s history of delays and cost overruns.

Must Read: NASA Announces Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore Will Return To Earth In February