NASA Fears Another Tragedy If Astronauts Return on Starliner

NASA doesn't want another Challenger or Columbia disaster on its hands.

Aug 23, 9:53 AM EDT
by Victor Tangermann

NASA is expected to finally come to a decision on what to do with its two stranded astronauts this weekend, but its option of returning them on Boeing's troubled Starliner is starting to look less and less likely.

The agency has scheduled a Flight Readiness Review for Saturday, after which it's expected to announce whether Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return on Boeing's plagued spacecraft — or hitch a ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February, extending an originally planned eight-day stay into an eight-month odyssey.

While the latter option should more or less be a routine mission for NASA at this point — Crew Dragon spacecraft have visited the International Space Station close to a dozen times over the last four years — opting for Boeing's alternative for reentry could make for a far more harrowing journey.

As the Washington Post reports, NASA has changed its tune considerably over the last couple of weeks, with officials going from repeatedly claiming they had "confidence" in Boeing's much-maligned spacecraft to publicly discussing alternative methods of reentry with the help of SpaceX.

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