In a turn of events that looked increasingly likely in recent weeks, NASA on Saturday announced that SpaceX—not Boeing—will return astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) due to lingering problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule.
The semireusable vessel to the ISS is in the midst of its inaugural crew flight test (CFT) for NASA, which was planned as an eight-day visit to the orbital laboratory but has stretched for months. Officials over the weekend determined the spacecraft’s ongoing helium leaks and thruster issues pose too much risk for the mission to be completed with crew.
