NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been at the International Space Station (ISS) for over two months now, will have to remain there in uncertainty for a few more days.
The two astronauts had gone to the space station on Boeing's maiden Starliner crew mission in June. Their mission, which was supposed to last for about a week, got extended because of several glitches in the aircraft including helium leaks and thruster troubles.
The US space agency on Thursday shared an update on the return of Sunita and Butch, saying that it is likely to announce its decision on Saturday about whether the NASA astronauts will need a SpaceX vehicle to return to Earth.
"NASA's decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts aboard is expected no earlier than Saturday, August 24, at the conclusion of an agency-level review," the space agency said in a statement.
The statement said that NASA administrator Bill Nelson will be attending the agency-level review.
NASA has prepared a backup plan to fly back Sunita and Butch on the return flight of an upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon mission. But that would mean that the duo cannot return home until February 2025.
Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, had said that NASA is considering sending Space X's Dragon Crew-9 to the ISS in September with only four astronauts.
The SpaceX aircraft would carry two extra spacesuits for Sunita and Butch, to facilitate their return on Crew-9's trip back to Earth.
Officials had earlier said that they made the delay to have some more time to analyse the thruster and leak problems that hit Starliner after its lift-off.
Stich, however, had said that their prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner itself. And if NASA decides to do so, then the two astronauts would fly back home in the capsule much sooner, probably within the next month so that they can free up the ISS docking port for SpaceX's mission.
Notably, NASA's upcoming decision is also highly significant for Boeing, which spent a long time in developing the Starliner and compete with SpaceX's similar but more experienced Crew Dragon.
As per a Reuters reports, securities filings show that Boeing has taken a $1.6 billion in losses on the Starliner program.
