So what went wrong? How did a short-term test mission end up with two astronauts in space for almost a year? The Boeing Starliner that was supposed to return them experienced helium leaks, a propellant valve that failed to close completely, and a malfunctioning thruster, which is crucial for steering and controlling re-entry. Although the craft successfully docked with the International Space Station and the two astronauts disembarked safely, Nasa lacked full confidence in the Starliner’s safety. As a result, despite Boeing’s readiness to bring the astronauts back, the agency decided the spacecraft should return empty. “It was a major setback for Boeing’s ambitions in space,” says Hannah. “The company had been working to develop a parallel programme to SpaceX, offering a commercial service for astronauts travelling to the International Space Station.”
The mission was intended to be the final test flight before Nasa certified Starliner for routine missions, but because of these events its path to certification remains uncertain. “I think it’s a setback for Nasa as well,” Hannah adds, “because it’s in their best interest to maintain a competitive environment, with more than one US company providing that service.”
Not stranded in space
Despite the headlines – and the claims from Donald Trump – Williams and Wilmore have been clear that they were not “stranded” or forgotten in space. “This was a test flight. The purpose of the flight was partly to test out this capsule and how it performed, and with any test, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get,” Hannah says.
Nevertheless, Trump and Musk have not hesitated to politicise the situation, claiming that former president Joe Biden had abandoned the astronauts and that SpaceX, Musk’s company, had heroically rescued them. When a Danish astronaut criticised these claims as baseless, Musk retaliated by calling him “fully retarded”.
Throughout their mission, there was always a spacecraft attached that could return everyone home in an emergency. Wilmore stated unequivocally: “We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded.” As many experts have pointed out, astronauts generally want to remain in space for as long as possible– provided they have a way home. “We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short. That’s what we do in human spaceflight. That’s what your nation’s human spaceflight programme is all about,” Wilmore has said.
Once Nasa decided that they would not be returning on the Boeing capsule, the agency chose to incorporate them into the ISS’s long-term crew. Given the enormous cost of sending astronauts up and bringing them back, it made sense for Williams and Wilmore to remain onboard, continuing their duties, which included station maintenance and 900 hours of research.
Private space travel
In terms of reliability, private and public space operators tend to encounter similar challenges, the outcome is not necessarily affected by who is running the mission. However, as Hannah points out: “I think this whole episode has highlighted the extraordinary influence Elon Musk now has in shaping what near-term space exploration looks like.”
Since entering the White House as Trump’s closest adviser, Musk has significantly reshaped the agency, shutting down two offices and firing 20 staff. Officials have warned that these cuts will harm Nasa in the long run and make space exploration more expensive. Many have also noted the potential conflict of interest here for Musk, who remains SpaceX’s CEO, as SpaceX is Nasa’s largest private contractor, with the agency having spent more than $15bn on its services.
Musk has also called for the ISS to be decommissioned as soon as possible. While Nasa had already planned to retire it in five years, the agency had intended to keep astronauts onboard until then – a plan that has now been thrown into doubt. “The ISS is a rare example of post-Cold War partnership between the US, Russia and other nations,” says Hannah. “It’s quite unique in that respect. So I think people do feel that something beyond science will be lost if that’s scrapped and not replaced by some sort of equivalent cooperative project.” It should be noted, that on board the shuttle that returned Williams and Wilmore to Earth was a Russian cosmonaut, from Roscosmos, Aleksandr Gorbunov. Now there are noises about a Putin/Musk collaboration to reach Mars. Even in the current climate on Earth, cooperation between nations in space continued.
Separately, some of the world’s most powerful nations are pursuing their own goals as part of the 21st-century space race. China, is planning to establish long-term research stations on the moon and may even stake territorial claims there. The country has conducted a series of successful space missions, highlighting its rapid advancements in the field. Last year, Nasa admitted that the US and China were effectively in a race to reach the moon. India, meanwhile, has historically maintained a relatively modest space programme budget but has now announced plans to increase funding by 20 to 30% – a sharp contrast to Nasa’s recent budget cuts.
A change in direction?
Musk’s outsized influence raises questions about the future priorities of human space exploration. Nasa has been focused on returning to the moon with its Artemis programme, but Musk has cast doubt on whether this should proceed. Instead, he insists the focus should be on sending humans to Mars – his longstanding obsession which he says is needed to ensure the survival of the human race. “Anyone who knows about spaceflight will tell you it’s just such a difficult thing to achieve. It’s a completely different level of technical complexity – it’s hard to state how ambitious it is to get there with humans on the timescale that Musk is proposing,” Hannah says.
While space exploration has always been entangled with international geopolitics, this latest phase of overt politicisation and self-interest “is something that astronauts themselves are not that comfortable with getting sucked into and being used as a political football”, Hannah says.
