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Pilot Suni Williams, from the town of Needham in Norfolk County, and commander Butch Wilmore will abandon Boeing’s troubled Starliner and instead hitch a ride on a SpaceX Dragon capsule in February 2025, NASA confirmed Saturday, Aug. 24.
The stunning decision capped off 11 weeks of uncertainty after NASA discovered numerous helium leaks and malfunctions with Starliner’s thrusters following its launch from Florida's Space Coast on Wednesday, June 5.
Williams and Wilmore were only supposed to be gone about a week on what was Starliner’s first crewed test flight following two unmanned test flights. It also marked the first time a woman had been aboard a maiden flight of a crewed spacecraft.
Without the astronauts at the controls, Starliner will depart the space station for a controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September, NASA said.
The uncrewed return will allow NASA and Boeing to continue gathering test data without risking the astronauts' lives, the agency said.
“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “I’m grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work.”
In the meantime, the stranded Williams and Wilmore are keeping busy supporting station research, performing maintenance, and conducting testing and data analysis on Starliner systems.
The unplanned return on a different spacecraft means NASA and SpaceX must reconfigure seats on the Crew-9 Dragon, as well as adjust the manifest to carry additional cargo and personal items. Williams and Wilmore will also be given new spacesuits that are compatible with Dragon.
A 1983 graduate of Needham High School, Williams became an astronaut in August 1998 after more than a decade as a helicopter pilot in the US Navy. She made her first trip to the International Space Station aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in December 2006.
Throughout her career, she has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in 30 different aircraft. In 2019, her hometown of Needham honored her by naming its new elementary school Sunita L. Williams Elementary School.
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