After weeks of waiting for news, there’s finally a big update on Starlineralthough this is undoubtedly not the most favorable news for the Boeing project in cooperation with NASA. And that adds to an already long and troubling list of occasions when the ship named as an alternative to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has made headlines related to the various types of problems that have befallen it.

After years behind scheduleStarliner finally launched its first manned mission to the International Space Station on June 5. This was great news after all the previous delays, as it finally seemed that everything was ready to complete this last test mission, to be certified by the US space agency and therefore to be able to operate normally.

The departure was completed, but although the crew arrived safely at the International Space Station, Two problems were found on the ship. The first, which was previously observed, was a leak from the helium supply, which was joined by two more during the flight to the ISS. And later, as the Starliner began its approach and docking procedure with the station, several of its engines failed. A complete reset of the systems brought almost all of them back up and running, but one of them remained down.

This caused, as we told you back then, that The Starliner is temporarily stuck on the ISSwith crew members facing a stay there that exceeds the originally planned eight days. This is not a problem, as the station has the necessary capacity to accommodate them without problems, and the supply transfer program operated by SpaceX is operating normally. And of course, this allowed Boeing and NASA to devote time to a thorough analysis of the ship’s condition.

However, the months passed, and if there was no news in this regard at the beginning of July, August began in the same way and with doubts as to how the return of his crew would take place. From what we knew at the time, the option of them returning in the Starliner was still being considered, although The possibility of doing this in a future Crew Dragon mission was being exploredalthough this entails some logistical complications.

Finally, the matter was decided and according to NASA The Starliner will return to Earth without a crew and will return to our planet later on the Crew Dragon. Now, this return will take some time because the previous mission first requires bringing to the ISS the suits that these crew members will need for the return flight on the SpaceX ship, since the Starliner suits are not compatible with the ISS. Crew dragon. Everything indicates that they will be able to return home basically only in February.

The return flight of the Starliner will enable both Boeing and the space agency can get much more information about the ship’s conditionand the effect of the problems you experienced on the return flight. Both have believed for some time that the ship will return without problems, but they preferred to minimize the risks in what we can consider the most reasonable decision. Of course, we will have what this all translates into in the certification plans for the Boeing ship.

Images: NASA