NASA stands by ‘right decision’ not to have Sunita Williams on board the Starliner despite uncrewed ‘bullseye landing’

Boeing's Starliner safely landed in New Mexico over the weekend. Despite admitting to having second thoughts, NASA explained why a crewed flight was not ideal.

Although Sunita Williams is still stuck in space for her 59th birthday on September 19, her interstellar ride, Boeing's Starliner, returned to Earth this past weekend—empty. The commercial spacecraft's smooth sailing culminated with its descent at White Sands Space in New Mexico on Friday night/Saturday morning (EDT).

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch , on June 5, 2024. (AFP)

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were the first people to launch on the capsule on June 5 for a mission that was initially meant to last not more than eight days. However, the faulty spacecraft, riddled with helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, was ultimately ruled out as the duo's ride back home. The US space agency, prioritising the astronauts' safety, eventually announced they would hitch a ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in 2025.

‘Bullseye landing’ of Boeing's Starliner faced some failures 

Shortly after the uncrewed Starliner landed on New Mexico soil on Saturday, NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich hailed it a “bullseye landing.” Nevertheless, its descent wasn't one without failure. The government agency ultimately confirmed that another thruster had malfunctioned during its downward climb, and the capsule also encountered a temporary blackout of its guidance system during reentry.

NASA's ‘core value’: Commitment to safety

Ultimately standing by their original decision not to have Wilmore and Williams on board the Boeing capsule, Steve Stich affirmed, “I think we made the right decision…All of us feel happy about the successful landing. But then there's a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it.”

Ken Bowersox, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, echoed the sentiment: “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible.”

In late August, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson foregrounded the organisation’s “commitment to safety” after opting for SpaceX as the sole rescuer for Williams and Wilmore in February 2025. “Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star.”

Addressing the present-day picture of the Starliner’s safe landing over the weekend, Stitch said, “I think it’s always challenging to look back in retrospect.”

The commercial crew program manager explained that the decision to greenlight an uncrewed flight was based on the information they had at the time, including their “understanding of the thrusters and the available modelling.”

Now that the Starliner capsule has landed safely, did NASA have second thoughts about its decision? 

He admitted that if their model had accurately predicted what they witnessed on Saturday morning, their initial call would have been easier to arrive at. However, they “didn’t have that level of certainty.”

Even though he acknowledged that it was “tough” for him and the team “after seeing a successful flight,” the Starliner’s return to Earth was ultimately “a test flight.” Stich continued, “We didn't have full confidence in the thruster performance, and that's why we chose to proceed with an uncrewed test flight."

While Williams and Wilmore are set to go live on September 13 for a news conference from the ISS, Boeing’s future on the Starliner front remains uncertain. Bank of America aerospace and defence analyst Ron Epstein told The New York Times that there’s no surety whether the company “will have another opportunity to bring astronauts to space.” Plus, “we would not be surprised if Boeing were to divest the manned spaceflight business,” given its capsule’s recent history of multiplying delays and cost overruns.