NASA and Boeing are not having an easy time with the Starliner, the reusable spacecraft project, with which the US space agency will have two suppliers for certain types of missions. Recall that until now, since the end of the space shuttle program, NASA has been dependent on third parties, mainly the Russian space agency, to take its crews into space.

That finally changed with the arrival of the SpaceX Crew Dragon., which have already proven to be fully functional and reliable, and therefore have already performed several transport missions to the International Space Station. So SpaceX has proven to be a more than reliable partner in this regard, which is quite reassuring. The problem is that relying on a single company for this purpose is quite risky, which is why the Starliner program is also of great strategic importance.

However, delays and problems They are a constant in the project, which was started more than 15 years ago, and which, after many delays, ended on June 5 with its first manned flight to the ISS. The crew arrived safely at the space station, but there were some problems during the flight that needed to be analyzed in depth before the ship made the return trip to Earth. As we told you at the time, she was somehow stuck awaiting investigation.

The Starliner docked at the International Space Station and flew over the Mediterranean Sea. Image: NASA.

So, after the deadline for your returnNASA has announced that there is still no scheduled return date, and yes, they have reassured us all by saying that extending the crew’s stay on the ISS is not a problem, and that the Starliner could also be used for emergency evacuation of the station if needed. But, and this is completely understandable, under normal conditions they prefer to collect as much information as possible, analyze it in depth and thus know the condition of the ship and thus its reliability down to the millimeter.

Now, a little over a month later, as we read in Ars Technica, NASA is studying all options for the safe return of the Starliner crew. It is understood that both the space agency and Boeing are considering terminating the Starliner test mission as the preferred option, using the ship for its return, but more than a month and a half has passed and it is still not necessary to consider that decision.

So it appears SpaceX is already working on a plan to use one of its Crew Dragons to bring the Starliner crew back to Earth, something we must understand is happening at the request of the space agency, which sees how Weeks go by without a fully secured return flight plan.

More information and images: NASA