American aviation giant Boeing’s space mission involving its Starliner spacecraft appears to have slipped further into the quagmire of controversies, as it recently announced that the mission’s two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will return to earth only in 2025.
NASA will return @BoeingSpace‘s #Starliner to Earth without @NASA_Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft.
The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not… pic.twitter.com/wkXX0qQXkq
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) August 24, 2024 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Responds To Donald Trump’s Offer Of Cabinet Position; Netizens React
‘Nasa Blocked Us’
The two are currently lodged at the International Space Station. It should be noted that this expedition was supposed to be an 8-day-long mission, but now could be longer than 8 months.
Amidst this development, SpaceX boss Elon Musk has made a major allegation against the US space agency NASA.
Boeing was paid billions more than SpaceX to be seven years late on a mission it could not complete . . . And will now be rescued from total disaster by SpaceX
Never forget, many bureaucrats wanted to sole source all of this to Boeing. pic.twitter.com/QEJ0ERuDq8
— Ashlee Vance (@ashleevance) August 25, 2024 Elon Musk’s X Closes Operations In Brazil After ‘Threat’ From Minister Alexandre de Moraes
While reacting/replying to a critical post on the Boeing mission, Musk alleged, “Hardly anyone knows that there was a massive effort to block SpaceX from providing astronaut transport for NASA”.
The original post read, “Boeing was paid billions more than SpaceX to be seven years late on a mission it could not complete . . . And will now be rescued from total disaster by SpaceX
Never forget, many bureaucrats wanted to sole source all of this to Boeing.”
Astronauts Sunita Williams & Butch Wilmore To Return To Earth In February 2025, Says NASA
Musk Vs NASA
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is arguably one of the biggest private entities in space exploration sector globally. It is in competition with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and now Boeing.
SpaceX has been pushing for its expansion in the sector. The company is credited with having launched the most powerful rocket, in the form of the Falcon Heavy.
After extensive review by experts across the agency, NASA’s @BoeingSpace Crew Flight Test will return with an uncrewed #Starliner. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are scheduled to return to Earth next spring aboard #Crew9: https://t.co/bfjenUU1Jf pic.twitter.com/c4NzZVJcvw
— NASA (@NASA) August 24, 2024
During today’s Agency Flight Readiness Review, NASA decided to autonomously return Starliner from the International Space Station. pic.twitter.com/rVkYhVSJPR
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) August 24, 2024FreePavel: Elon Musk Demands Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s Release From Custody After Arrest In France
Nasa took to X to share more details about the development. In a post, Nasa corroborated the news and said, “After extensive review by experts across the agency, NASA’s @BoeingSpace Crew Flight Test will return with an uncrewed #Starliner. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are scheduled to return to Earth next spring aboard.”
Boeing Space also released a statement on the matter. The mission began when Boeing launched its Starliner spacecraft into orbit on June 5.
