Will the crew of the Boeing Starliner soon return to Earth on the spacecraft that brought them into orbit? Or will the astronauts have no choice but to wait until February to hitch a ride on a SpaceX Dragon?
That answer may be coming soon as NASA officials appear poised to finally reveal the Starliner's fate.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is scheduled to appear for a live news conference at 1 p.m. EDT Saturday from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the agency said Thursday. The news conference, which will be televised and livestreamed, will take place about one hour after Nelson will meet behind closed doors with officials at both NASA and Boeing for a flight readiness review.
A rare process in the middle of a mission, the additional review became necessary for flight engineers to determine whether the beleaguered Starliner is capable of safely returning astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams to Earth – or whether the spacecraft will have to undock with no humans aboard.