Butch and Suni may have to stay at the ISS until February

On Tuesday, NASA updated reporters on the ongoing Boeing Starliner situation. NASA said that they are looking at both sending stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back on the troubled Boeing Starliner as originally planned or sending them back with the crew of the Space X Dragon Crew9 mission.

The Crew9 mission which was scheduled for August has been pushed back to September 24 to give NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX more time to prepare for mission possibilities. Crew9 was to bring four new astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) to relieve the astronauts that are there from Crew8. If the decision is made to leave Butch and Suni on the ISS they will be integrated with the Crew9 team – that will be reduced to just two and then Butch and Suni will return in February with the two Crew9 astronauts.

NASA associate administrator over Space Operations Mission Directorate Ken Bowersox briefed the media.

"We are in new territory in that we have multiple options," Bowersox said.

Bowersox said that NASA and Boeing are considering, "The option to bring the crew home on the Starliner or bring the crew home on another vehicle."

Butch and Suni could simply leave for Earth on the Starliner as originally planned. Given the helium leaks and the thruster issues that hampered Starliner's voyage to the International Space Station, NASA is concerned that the voyage from the ISS to Earth reentry could pose certain risks.

"What we are doing is trying to reduce that uncertainty," Bowersox explained.

Bowersox acknowledged that there are bitter disagreements on how to proceed here.

"Sometimes when we get disagreements it is not fun," Bowersox said.

The two astronauts have stayed busy helping the ISS team with their work; but there is a downside to having two extra astronauts on the ISS.

"They are also using up more consumables and using more supplies," Bowersox explained.

Steve Stich is the manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program

Stich explained that NASA has been performing tests of the thrusters on Earth at NASA's facility at White Hills and that the problems with Starliner's thrusters is centered around degradation of the seals on the Thrusters.

"We were able to replicate the degradation of the thrusters," Stich explained of the ground tests. "We gained insight into what happens when the thrusters heat up."

Stich explained that there is a swelling of the Teflon seals, but that once they cool down they return to their pre-swollen form. Stich said that either there is vaporizing of some of the propellant in the thrusters when they heat up or that there is cavitation in the swollen seals that is creating a blockage in the flow of fuel to Starliner's thrusters.

"We did do a hot fire while we are docked," Stich said. All the thrusters but one fired in the test.

Stich said that NASA's engineers are continuing to work, "To understand how that Teflon could extrude and how that can contract over time."

Dana Weigel is the manager of the International Space Station Program.

Weigel explained that the ISS has two docking ports, "The Crew 8 vehicle is on board and we have Starliner on Board. We will have to undock Starliner before Crew 9 can dock."

The Crew9 mission was set to launch in the next week to relieve the Crew8 team who were going to return to Earth; but Starliner's issues have complicated the situation, so the Crew9 mission has been delayed until at least September 24.\

If NASA determines that it is not safe for Butch and Suni to return on the Starliner then two of the four astronauts slated to go up on Crew9 will be left on Earth and Butch and Sunni will take their places on the ISS with Crew9.

NASA would not comment on which two members of the Crew9 team would be left behind on Earth.

"On Crew 9 we now have the capacity to fly two crew members up and have ballast in those seats and fly 4 crew members back," Stich explained.

If the decision is made to send Starliner back to Earth uncrewed then the software has to be updated in order for it to undock from the ISS and return home. That update to the mission parameters will take up to four weeks. NASA and the Russians always have a spacecraft docked to the ISS so that the crew can be evacuated if the worst were to happen.

If Starliner is sent back to Earth without astronauts on board, then that "life raft" spacecraft would become Crew8 and Crew8 only has four seats. If the decision is made to jettison Starliner so Crew9 can dock at that second port; then Crew8 will have to be modified so that six astronauts can return to Earth in that worst case scenario.

Bowersox said that the engineers in Boeing are confident in the Starliner; while some of NASA's engineers are more skeptical. He did say that they were close to making a decision; and that in recent days the decision has been trending towards the SpaceX rescue mission and sending Starliner back uncrewed; but "That could change."

"They may have to be up there another six to nine months," Wiegel said. "Butch and Sonny are happy and prepared to support whatever we decide to do."

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