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SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell shared that her company is ready to work with NASA to bring back astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The fate of Wilmore and Williams was decided by NASA earlier today after an agency review determined that the risk of bringing them back on Boeing’s Starliner was too high. As a result, NASA will use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to return the astronauts as part of the Crew-9 mission, which is scheduled to lift off in late September.
SpaceX is ready to support NASA to the best of its abilities, says Shotwell
Before the Crew 9 Dragon can lift off to dock with the ISS, a docking port must be ready to accept the spacecraft. Currently, the U.S. section of the International Space Station (ISS) can accommodate two crew vehicles, and along with Starliner, SpaceX’s Dragon for the Crew-8 mission is also docked at the ISS.
Therefore, to accommodate Crew-9 Dragon, Starliner needs to undock from the ISS and this stringent requirement was the driving factor behind NASA’s decision today, as otherwise Starliner would spend more than six months at the station and SpaceX’s Crew-8 would have to undock first.
In your post on X after today’s announcementSpaceX’s Shotwell shared that “SpaceX is ready to support NASA in any way we can..” Before it can return Wilmore and Williams to Earth on Dragon, SpaceX will work with NASA to decide which astronauts will not fly to the ISS on Crew-9, since the original mission complement included four astronauts. It will then ensure that Dragon’s seats will not impact its mission profile because of the updated crew manifest.
Another change to the Crew-9 manifest resulting from today’s decision involves the spacesuits that astronauts will wear upon their return to Earth. Since they are different spacecraft, SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner use different suits for the crew. These suits are responsible for regulating the temperature of the crew and ensuring their safety in the event of a cabin depressurization due to an anomaly.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon suits are custom-made for each astronaut, and during a press conference earlier today, NASA officials shared that they will be flying an additional suit to the ISS on Crew-9. They also revealed that an extra suit was already on the station, and it was successfully checked by the astronauts for a proper fit.
August and September are busy months for SpaceX’s crewed missions. After launching the Crew-9 crew, the company will work with NASA to bring the Crew-8 mission back to Earth. Before that, SpaceX will launch a private human spaceflight mission with the Polaris Program led by billionaire Jared Issacman next week. The Polaris Dawn mission will be the first of its kind for SpaceX, as it will take Dragon to its highest altitude yet for a spacewalk.