A big weekend lies ahead for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner as NASA prepares to make a call on whether the crew will be returning in the spacecraft, as originally planned, or as part of the Crew-9 mission in 2025.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and the agency's leadership will hold an internal Agency Test Flight Readiness Review on Saturday, August 24. The meeting will be chaired by the associate administrator of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, Ken Bowersox. A televised news conference will follow at 1300 EDT to announce the decision.

Readiness review meetings are routine events within the agency and are an opportunity for participants to present dissenting opinions and reconcile them. However, this time around, things will be particularly tense, since the outcome of the meeting will include the agency's decision regarding bringing Starliner back to Earth crewed or uncrewed, as well as the next steps required.

The Starliner crew has enjoyed an extended stint onboard the International Space Station (ISS) while engineers have grappled with issues that cropped up during the flight. The abnormal behavior of the spacecraft's thrusters has been particularly vexing for the team on the ground.

The flight rationale, including a new model to predict how the thrusters will perform more accurately, will be presented ahead of the review.

The decision is stark. Either the Starliner crew - consisting of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore - will return in the capsule, or they will become part of the next Crew Dragon mission - Crew-9 - and Starliner will return uncrewed.

Both approaches carry risks that will need to be assessed. NASA has approved the Starliner for a crew return as a contingency but could well opt for an already proven and operational system in the form of the Crew Dragon for a normal return.

However, should the Starliner be returned uncrewed, Williams and Wilmore will be without pressure suits compatible with SpaceX hardware until the Crew-9 spacecraft arrives. There will also be inevitable disruption to planned ISS activities, and the Starliner duo will risk exposure to a greater dose of radiation thanks to their extended mission duration. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/08/23/starliner_nasa_meeting/