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NASA, not Boeing’s Starliner, will retrieve astronauts who are trapped on SpaceX.

Posted on by 9jaupdate

Boeing’s Starliner will come back to Earth empty, and the two astronauts who took it up into orbit on a test flight will return in a capsule built by a competing company, SpaceX.

The long-awaited decision by NASA means the astronauts will have to cool their heels on the International Space Station until February.

And it’s a stunning blow to Boeing’s beleaguered Starliner program, which has been beset by delays and technical troubles.

“Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine. And a test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a press briefing on Saturday.

He noted that the decision was made in the context of NASA officials knowing that past mistakes had resulted in the loss of two space shuttles and their crews. “Our core value is safety and it is our North Star,” said Nelson.

NASA has extended the trip to the International Space Station by eight months due to glitches during a test flight.
NASA and Boeing spent weeks trying to understand the cause of helium leaks and flakey behavior by thrusters that conked out as Starliner approached the station.
Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said the situation with the thrusters was too complicated to predict their failure at a critical time.
The agency has turned to SpaceX, which has successfully provided taxi services to and from the station for several years, as their reliable partner.

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