Will the astronauts aboard the Boeing Starliner return to Earth soon, or will they have to wait until February for a SpaceX Dragon ride home?

NASA is expected to clarify the Starliner’s future shortly.

On Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will host a live press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The agency announced the event will be aired live on several platforms. This conference follows a closed meeting where Nelson will discuss flight readiness with NASA and Boeing officials.

Typically uncommon during a mission, this extra review is crucial for engineers to assess whether the troubled Starliner can safely bring astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams back to Earth, or if it will need to undock without a crew on board.

How to Tune into NASA’s News Conference

Unlike prior Starliner press briefings focused primarily on media outlets, Saturday’s session will be open to the general public and led by the NASA chief.

Viewers can catch the news conference through several channels:

The event will be streamed live on NASA+, on NASA Television (though it will soon be discontinued), as well as on the NASA app, the agency’s official website, and their YouTube channel.

Understanding Flight Readiness Reviews

The Starliner capsule, designed for regular crewed missions to the space station, has always been viewed as the preferred option for Wilmore and Williams on their return trip.

Nonetheless, NASA and Boeing have backup plans to ensure that the experienced astronauts’ safe return is guaranteed, regardless of the situation.

Before any NASA mission launches, a flight readiness review is mandatory. In exceptional cases, scientists may need to revisit this process during a mission, as explained by Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, at an Aug. 14 press briefing.

For the past week, engineers and specialists from both NASA and Boeing have been gathering and assessing data related to Starliner in preparation for this critical review, as noted in a NASA blog post on the mission.

The upcoming news conference will follow the completion of this review.

Notably, Boeing officials have not participated in recent NASA press briefings, nor have they provided any updates since Aug. 2.

The Boeing Starliner Situation

The troubled Starliner faced numerous challenges even prior to its successful launch on June 5 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its first crewmanned test flight.

Wilmore and Williams had expected to stay at the International Space Station for just over a week before returning home. However, shortly after arriving at the station, engineers identified several helium leaks and issues with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, hindering Starliner’s path back to Earth.

With the situation surrounding the Starliner in disarray, NASA has decided to delay the launch of SpaceX Crew-9.

This mission was originally planned for earlier in August to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) and replace the Crew-8 team that has been there since March. However, the four Crew-9 astronauts cannot board the ISS until the docking port occupied by Starliner is free, which means the mission will not take place until at least September 24, according to NASA.

To avoid further delays, Starliner must undock by that date, regardless of whether it has a crew on board. The number of astronauts heading to the ISS for the six-month Crew-9 mission—either four or two—will depend on whether Wilmore and Williams are on the Starliner when it leaves.

If Starliner departs without a crew and returns autonomously, Wilmore and Williams will need a spot to ride back on February 25 aboard the Dragon capsule after the Crew-9 team wraps up their mission.

In the meantime, the two astronauts have been actively engaged in their extended stay by conducting scientific experiments and assisting with maintenance on the space station, as stated by NASA.

What is the purpose of Starliner?

The Starliner program aims to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in providing regular transport to space on behalf of NASA.

This collaboration shows a recent trend for NASA, which has shifted to relying on private companies for missions that it once managed independently, aiming to reduce expenses. Getting the Starliner certified for such operations would give NASA a second fully operational space vehicle for transporting astronauts and cargo to the ISS, following its significant investment in Boeing and SpaceX to develop these spacecraft.

However, Boeing has fallen behind SpaceX, which has been successfully transporting astronauts and supplies to the ISS using its Dragon spacecraft since 2020. Whether the Starliner can still be approved for crewed missions if it returns without any astronauts remains uncertain.