NASA continues to assess the risks related to the return to Earth of astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since June. Their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered technical problems, forcing the agency to consider several alternative evacuation options.
Although NASA and Boeing assure that the Starliner is capable of getting the crew to Earth in case of an emergency, potential malfunctions could put the astronauts at risk. While practicing the evacuation scenario, another problem point was discovered – the incompatibility of the Starliner spacesuits with the spacesuits used on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. This means that if NASA decides to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth with SpaceX, they will fly without spacesuits, which is a risky factor.
The spacesuits are important for protection in the event of loss of pressure in the cabin, temperature regulation, and data collection of their condition. However, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, Boeing and SpaceX developed their spacecraft independently, leading to incompatibilities in their equipment. The absence of a requirement for spacesuit cross-compatibility allowed NASA to control risk by maintaining a wide range of contingency options.
In addition, even if Williams and Wilmore are taken to the already-filled SpaceX Crew-8 Dragon, there are limitations on the number of available seats and the inability to connect spacesuits to the spacecraft. However, NASA has an alternative option: sending astronauts on a future SpaceX Crew-9 mission with two instead of four crew members, which would make room for Williams and Wilmore, and allow spare spacesuits to be delivered.
Regardless of the option chosen, the possible return of Starliner without a crew would be a major damage to the reputations of Boeing and NASA, which are already suffering billions of dollars in losses from the development of the spacecraft.
Earlier we reported on how problems with Starliner caused concern about the Gaganyaan flight.
According to futurism.com
