NASA has a contingency plan to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the ISS early next year via SpaceX's Crew-9 mission if Boeing's Starliner faces further delays or safety concerns.
Boeing's Starliner program faced significant delays and technical issues, leading to over two months of stranded astronauts and potential reliance on SpaceX for the return journey.
NASA's preference is to still use Boeing's Starliner for the return, pending investigation results on the technical issues, pointing to deformed Teflon seals as a potential reason for thruster failures.
Boeing would reconfigure the Starliner craft if SpaceX's Crew-9 mission is needed to bring the astronauts back, following a series of setbacks experienced by Boeing throughout the year.
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