NASA SpaceX Crew-9 finally on Earth; when is the next SpaceX launch, Boeing mission?
The NASA astronauts made a dramatic water landing off the coast of Florida on Tuesday on a SpaceX Dragon capsule following a 17-hour trip across the cosmos to return home. The astronauts were aboard a test flight for Boeing Starliner last June when the vehicle failed, leading to the duo's nearly 10-month stay at the International Space Station. On Tuesday, they arrived home with two spacenauts from SpaceX Crew-9, who flew up last September aboard the Dragon vehicle selected to bring the Starliner astronauts home.
With SpaceX's Crew-10 now at the International Space Station for an extended stay, and with Boeing still not considered operational by NASA due to a bevy of concerns, here's the difference between SpaceX and Boeing and when both are expected to return to the International Space Station with astronauts.
NASA contracted Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to transport crew to the International Space Station from the United States under the commercial crew program. This allows NASA to pay the companies — Elon Musk's SpaceX and Kelly Ortberg's Boeing — to launch and transport astronauts to space, freeing up NASA to focus on other orbital adventures, such as crewed expeditions to Mars.
The Boeing Starliner, however, while trying to compete with Musk's SpaceX, has been fraught with problems. During its first uncrewed test flight in December 2019, it failed to reach the ISS, although successfully docked in 2022. Last year on its maiden manned voyage with Williams and Wilmore aboard, NASA officials determined the craft wasn't safe enough to carry the crew home, and instead returned to Earth empty.
SpaceX's Crew-10 made a spine-tingling launch into orbit aboard the Dragon Endurance on Friday, March 14, which was viewed by over two million people on the SpaceX livestream. That crew will remain for about six months, which is typical, at the International Space Station.
The next manned flight, NASA's SpaceX Crew-11, will be the second crew rotation in 2025. NASA said it is targeted for "no earlier than July" to "benefit the space station needs, including accommodating resupply flights and other operations aboard the orbiting laboratory." That crew will be announced at a later date.
SpaceX Crew-11, the next manned mission to the International Space Station, will take place "no sooner than July," according to NASA.
The Boeing Starliner is meant to one day become a second operational vehicle for NASA under the commercial crew program but has been riddled with safety issues, technical concerns and costly delays. It has yet to launch a manned crew that has not had technical issues, as evidenced by Whitmore and Williams' journey last year.
The timing of Starliner's next flight is to be determined. According to NASA, they are "keeping options open" on how best to achieve Starliner's certification, including "windows of opportunity for a potential Starliner flight in 2025."
Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NASA Starliner crew safe at home; when is next SpaceX launch?
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