NASA Admits Internal Disputes on Starliner Safety and Rescue Plans

TapTechNews August 8th news, officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) publicly admitted for the first time at a press conference on Wednesday that there are internal differences on whether the Starliner manned spacecraft developed by Boeing is safe enough to safely return two veteran astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to Earth.

TapTechNews noticed that NASA also confirmed several key pieces of information that had been rumored before: NASA has quietly been working with SpaceX in the past few weeks to formulate a potential rescue mission plan; the launch time of the Crew-9 mission has been postponed to September 24th to deal with this possibility; the current software configuration of the Starliner cannot achieve autonomous detachment from the space station.

Kenn Bollerslev, director of NASA's manned spaceflight operations and a former astronaut, said the final decision on how Wilmore and Williams will return to Earth has not been made. He acknowledged that there are legitimate differences among engineers at NASA (as the customer) and Boeing (as the developer and operator) regarding the reliability of the 28 reaction control system thrusters responsible for fine maneuvers and pointing.

Bollerslev said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday: I think these internal discussions are very healthy. I have to admit that sometimes when we have differences, the situation is not pleasant. These discussions can be painful, but that's what makes us an excellent organization.

NASA has been studying various contingency plans, but officials seem to have identified two different plans to return the astronauts to Earth. If NASA engineers are more confident in the performance of the thrusters, they may still be able to return on the Starliner, possibly in late August or early September. Another option is that NASA can launch the Crew-9 mission with two instead of four astronauts, and Wilmore and Williams will join the reinforcement group on the space station and return to Earth in February 2025.

When asked if he thinks one plan is more likely than the other, Bollerslev said it's uncertain. However, the final decision will be made soon. Bollerslev said NASA needs to choose the return path for the astronauts by the middle of August.