SpaceX Crew Dragon To Be Used for Crew-10 and Crew-11

NASA recently published a statement finalizing its decision to boot Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft from upcoming ISS missions. The agency will be using the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule as a replacement while the Starliner remains under evaluation.

“The timing and configuration of Starliner’s next flight will be determined once a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established,” NASA commented regarding 2025 missions. “NASA is keeping options on the table for how best to achieve system certification, including windows of opportunity for a potential Starliner flight in 2025.”

Crew Dragon will now be used for both the February 2025 Crew-10 and July 2025 Crew-11 missions. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers will launch alongside JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov for Crew-10. A flight crew has not been revealed for the following mission.

Until now, NASA had seemed hopeful that the Starliner would receive certification in time for Crew-10. However, the spacecraft will be benched until August 2025… at least.

The Boeing Starliner launched in June with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Soon after, the spacecraft experienced some technical difficulties and the original eight-day mission plan was thrown out the window. NASA made the tough decision to return the Starliner uncrewed on September 7, leaving Wilmore and Williams behind. The astronauts are intended to return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in early 2025.

Despite several troubling issues with the spacecraft, NASA is still debating the possibility of moving directly into Starliner-1. For now, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy states, “it’s under data review. We need to have a decision: do we need another test flight?”

NASA is also experiencing some doubts regarding its integrated crew agreement with Russian space agency Roscosmos. Crossover flights were introduced as a method of ensuring that both nations are able to remain present on the International Space Station. NASA has, so far, upheld its end of the deal, but Roscosmos seems to be falling behind. Beyond Jonny Kim, who is assigned to the next Soyuz ISS mission, no NASA astronauts have been placed on upcoming Roscosmos flights.

“That’s coming in due course. It will be a normal negotiation,” expressed NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We fully expect that the flights will continue to be integrated.”

FMI: www.nasa.gov