NASA Assigns 2 Missions To SpaceX For 2025 After Boeing's Starliner Stranded Astronauts

NASA will launch both its Crew-10 and Crew-11 missions to the International Space Station (ISS) with the help of SpaceX in 2025, the agency said earlier this week, while adding that it is yet to ascertain when the next Boeing Co.’s BA Starliner flight would be.

What Happened: The SpaceX Crew-10 mission, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, is slated to be launched no earlier than February 2025, NASA said.

Crew-11 mission, NASA said, is targeted for no earlier than July 2025 and will also be launched aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. The agency is yet to announce the mission’s crew members.

Starliner’s Future Flight: Boeing’s Dragon rival Starliner, however, does not have a fixed timeline for launch. The timing and configuration of the spacecraft’s next flight will be ascertained after considering lessons from its past crewed test flight and operational readiness, the agency said.

“Meanwhile, NASA is keeping options on the table for how best to achieve system certification, including windows of opportunity for a potential Starliner flight in 2025,” the agency said.

The Past Crewed Test Flight: Two astronauts launched to ISS on June 5 aboard Starliner. Though the two were supposed to return in about eight days, technical issues identified with the spacecraft while docking delayed the return journey, and the agency subsequently decided to scrap bringing the astronauts back on the Boeing spacecraft altogether.

The Starliner subsequently undocked from the ISS without crew in early September. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will now return with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grubonov who went to the station as part of the Crew-9 mission in September.

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Photo courtesy: NASA/SpaceX