NASA must make a decision with serious consequences on Saturday: Will the first two astronauts on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft be able to return to Earth in the craft, or will they have to wait to be rescued by SpaceX?
If the second solution is retained, it would be a snub to Boeing, with very concrete implications for the crew: the two astronauts would spend a total of eight months on the International Space Station (ISS), instead of eight days as initially planned.
The decision-making committee is scheduled to meet on Saturday, with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in attendance. About an hour later, the space agency plans to hold a news conference, currently scheduled for 5 p.m. GMT.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Starliner in early June and have been aboard the International Space Station ever since, where their ship remains docked.
They were originally supposed to return to Earth after eight days, but problems discovered in its propulsion system led NASA to question its reliability.
And consider a radical emergency solution: returning its passengers, who have already spent two and a half months in the flying lab, on a regular SpaceX mission in February.
For weeks, Boeing and NASA teams have been running tests to better understand the cause of the flight problems, particularly with regard to the spacecraft's thrusters.
The main concern is that Starliner will not be able to achieve the thrust needed to exit orbit and begin its descent toward Earth.
If it is decided that the ship is not safe enough, it will return empty.
A regular SpaceX mission, called Crew-9, is then scheduled to launch in late September, but it will carry only two astronauts instead of four. It will remain docked to the ISS until its scheduled return to Earth in February. Then two Boeing outcasts will be brought back in addition to the two Crew-9 astronauts.
Such an outcome would certainly further damage Boeing's image, which is also in turmoil after a series of plane failures.
Ten years ago, NASA ordered new spacecraft from both Boeing and SpaceX to carry its astronauts to the International Space Station. With two vehicles, it didn’t want to be left out in the cold if one or the other had a problem.
But Elon Musk's company has largely outpaced Boeing, and has been playing the role of America's space taxi alone for four years.
This first crewed flight of the Starliner, which was delayed by years due to setbacks during its development, was the final test before regular operations began.
