NASA astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are forced to remain on the International Space Station (ISS) due to a malfunctioning Boeing Starliner spacecraft, will be able to return to Earth in early 2025 using a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, CNN reported.
This news comes after the space agency conducted a formal review to determine if Starliner could be safe enough to return home with its crew, or if the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft would have to step in to save the day.
The Starliner spacecraft that carried astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore to the space station in early June failed because of helium leaks and engines that suddenly stopped working early in its first test flight with the crew. Engineers spent weeks trying to better understand the problems. For its part, Boeing said as recently as Aug. 2 that its “confidence remains high” that the spacecraft will be able to return astronauts to Earth.
But NASA said during an Aug. 7 briefing that discussions at the space agency about the safety of the Starliner capsule are evolving, prompting the federal agency to more seriously consider sending astronauts home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which has flown about a dozen crewed missions into space since 2020.
