--- title: "It’s Official: NASA Will Rescue Its Stranded Astronauts With SpaceX, Not Boeing’s Plagued Starliner" description: "NASA has officially made the decision to have Boeing's plagued Starliner spacecraft return without a crew on board." date: "2024-08-24" modified: "2024-08-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-dumps-boeing-starliner-spacex" categories: - "Boeing" - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "boeing" - "NASA" - "starliner" - "the digest" --- # It’s Official: NASA Will Rescue Its Stranded Astronauts With SpaceX, Not Boeing’s Plagued Starliner ![NASA has officially made the decision to have Boeing's plagued Starliner spacecraft return without a crew on board.]() *\Image: NASA / Futurism\* ## Empty Handed NASA has officially made the decision to have Boeing's plagued Starliner spacecraft [return without a crew on board](). Instead, its two stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in February. That means their stay on board the International Space Station has been extended from what was originally designed to be an eight-day mission to a [whopping eight-month]() odyssey. The agency has been weighing its options for [many weeks now](). Officials only [recently started changing their tune considerably](), casting further doubt on Starliner's ability to safely return its two astronauts — and now, NASA's decision comes as a major black eye for Boeing. "NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with (SpaceX's) Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed," [said]() NASA administrator Bill Nelson of the decision. ## PR Nightmare The decision shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, given Boeing's troubles in pinpointing the technical problems [haunting its spacecraft's propulsion system](). Before Williams and Wilmore's journey to the ISS even began in early June, engineers [detected several helium leaks]() but opted to launch anyway. Then, en route to the station, more leaks were found and the spacecraft started having trouble with its thrusters as well. The mission fell into a strange liminal state as NASA pondered its next move; in a worst case scenario, officials feared, the spacecraft could've even [spun out of control]() and crashed into the station after undocking. NASA will [now be required to make changes to Starliner's onboard software]() to enable it to autonomously undock and reenter the Earth's atmosphere. The decision to ditch Starliner likely didn't come easy, and signifies a major vote of no confidence in one of NASA's biggest contractors. It's a PR nightmare for the space agency, which has already [sunk billions of dollars]() into the development of Boeing's spacecraft. The uncomfortable truth is that NASA doesn't technically *need* Boeing's Starliner to send crews up to the aging orbital outpost. The capsule was developed under the same Commercial Crew contract as SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which has already completed just shy of a dozen crewed flights to the space station. Whether Boeing will get another chance at delivering and returning astronauts on board its spacecraft remains to be seen. **More on Starliner:** *[NASA Fears Another Tragedy If Astronauts Return on Starliner]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()