NASA says it can ask SpaceX to bring Boeing astronauts home if needed, as they reach 51 days on the space station

The Commercial Crew Program funded SpaceX and Boeing to develop their respective spaceships into reliable astronaut vehicles for NASA.

SpaceX did it much faster and cheaper. Crew Dragon completed its first astronaut flight in 2020. Starliner is fumbling its own first astronaut flight right now.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, even posted about the disparity on the day of Williams’ and Wilmore’s launch.

NASA had pre-ordained a maximum of 45 days for Starliner’s stay, based on how its batteries might perform in space.

As of Friday, the astronauts and their spaceship had been on the station for 51 days.

Now NASA says Williams and Wilmore might stay there until mid-August while Boeing’s troubleshooting continues. The agency has extended the 45-day battery waiver to 90 days.

“We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that,” Stich said in the briefing.

NASA’s plan to bring the astronauts home

It was the second press conference in about a week where NASA announced there was still no return date.

That’s because the agency is testing a spare Starliner thruster at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico and hasn’t finished yet. Engineers have been replicating the thruster issues that developed while Williams’ and Wilmore’s ship was on its way to the space station.

The next step is replicating the return journey, Stitch said, to see if Starliner’s thrusters could safely bring the astronauts home.

“NASA always has contingency options. We know a little bit of what those are, and we haven’t worked on them a whole bunch, but we kind of know what those are,” Stich said. “But right now we’re really focused on bringing Butch and Suni home on Starliner.”

In the meantime, both NASA and Boeing have repeatedly said, Williams and Wilmore are safe.

“Someday Starliner could be a backup to a Dragon mission,” Stich added.