NPR’s Adrian Florido talks with retired astronaut Terry Virts about what Boeing Starliner astronauts might experience while staying in space longer than they thought.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
In early June, NASA launched its Starliner spacecraft into space. It was a test run for Boeing’s new spacecraft. The plan was to dock with the International Space Station and return to Earth in about a week. Well, it’s been over a month and the ship is still up there. A series of malfunctions has postponed Starliner’s return indefinitely.
To learn more about this topic and what it means for the two astronauts on board, we reached out to Terry Virts. He is a retired Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut. He also served as commander of the International Space Station. Colonel Virts, welcome.
TERRY VIRTS: Thanks for having me.
FLORIDO: What was your reaction when you learned that the Starliner would have to stay in space longer than originally planned?
VIRTS: Well, my first reaction was to say that this is probably good news for the two Boeing astronauts. They’re going to get a few extra weeks in space. And you never know when the next space flight is going to be, so I’m sure the astronauts are happy to have a little extra time and space. Also, the crew of the space station – that’s the seven astronauts who are there – I’m sure they’re happy to have a few extra weeks of free work. So the astronauts themselves are all happy, I’m sure.
FLORIDO: But what’s the problem up there? I mean, why couldn’t that ship come back?
VIRTS: Well, this is a test flight. Boeing – so this is the only human astronaut test flight. And then it’s going to be operational. So they have to make sure that they’re certified. Certification is the big word in the NASA ecosystem. And they had a problem during docking. Some of the little rocket engines that control the spacecraft weren’t working. They were blown out. And some of the helium, which is a gas that we use to make the propulsion – that pressurizes the propellant. There were some little helium leaks. So they shut off the helium. The helium is no longer leaking. And – but the – I think they’re really trying to focus on what caused the little rocket engines to fire. Since this is a test flight and a certification mission, they really want to take the time to figure out what happened.
FLORIDO: Well, NASA and Boeing officials are adamant that the two astronauts who flew the spacecraft up there, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are not stuck. Is that technically correct? Do you agree that they’re not stuck up there?
VIRTS: That’s right. In fact, they said that in an emergency, they could jump in the capsule, close the hatch, and come back to Earth. But again, this is a test flight and the real goal, you know, what Boeing and NASA want is to declare this craft certified. They want to get the big bureaucratic stamp and the certified stamp on the Starliner. You know, to do that, they basically have free time. They can stay for a few weeks and their engineers can analyze all the data to figure out what’s going on with the helium and the jets. Once they get back to Earth, they’re never going to be able to get that data again.
FLORIDO: In 2015, you were supposed to stay in space for 169 days, but NASA delayed your return after a Russian rocket exploded that was very similar to the one that was supposed to be used to take your replacement crew to the space station. You ended up staying up there for about another month. Tell us a little bit about what went through your mind when you found out you were going to be up there longer than expected? Were you in a kind of state of uncertainty?
VIRTS: Yeah. It was a little bit different because it was a semester-long mission. It wasn’t just a one- or two-week mission, and we were ready to come back. And you know, when they had this accident, the first thought was, well, we just lost supplies because another American cargo ship had blown up a few months earlier. So we were kind of out of supplies. And then our next thought was, I don’t think they’re going to launch our replacement crew because – they’d be launching basically the same Soyuz rocket. So we were kind of stuck in space, out of supplies, and we didn’t know for how long. It was kind of funny. It was like COVID. Before COVID, it was COVID in space – without the virus. We were just stuck and out of supplies and we didn’t know for how long.
FLORIDO: How long do you think they’ll be up there? I mean, how long will it take NASA to figure this out and say, OK, we’re ready to bring you back?
VIRTS: I think they’ll probably be there for a few more weeks. Maybe longer. I don’t know exactly what technical data they need to get, what technical data they want to get. I think they got what they needed. They could come back tomorrow and be safe. But what Boeing doesn’t want, I’m sure, is to have to do another test mission. So they’ll probably be there for as long as it takes to get certified.
FLORIDO: I’m just wondering if these astronauts brought enough changes of clothes, you know?
VIRTS: (Laughs) I was wondering the same thing. So one thing you don’t have to worry about is that the space station has more than enough supplies. I don’t know the exact number, but there’s enough food, oxygen, and water for a year. So there’s plenty of supplies like that. As for whether they actually brought enough underwear and whether they need shoes for sports, I’m sure they did that in case of an emergency or they can borrow stuff from their crewmates. So I don’t think that’s a problem.
FLORIDO: What advice would you give to these astronauts?
VIRTS: I would just say enjoy it. You know, during my month, I took a lot of pictures. I was working on an IMAX movie called “A Beautiful Planet.” So I was involved in a lot of that movie, actually, during my bonus month. And you have to stay busy. You don’t want to sit around and do nothing. But I know these two aren’t going to sit around and do nothing. And I’m sure NASA will have a lot of work for them. The to-do list is always long and incomplete on space stations, so there’s a lot of work for them to do.
FLORIDO: Is there anything in particular that you’re going to pay attention to when they come back, whenever that is?
VIRTS: Yeah. The biggest question is whether they’re going to be able to certify this project. That’s by far the biggest question because Boeing wants to get this project certified so they can do normal missions with four astronauts instead of two. Normally, NASA only flies two astronauts on a first flight, just because it’s safe and they don’t want to risk more lives than necessary. But Boeing is going to want to get this project certified (unintelligible). If you haven’t been reading the news in the last few years, there have been some bad headlines for Boeing. So they really want this project to succeed.
FLORIDO: Well, I spoke with Colonel Terry Virts. He’s a retired NASA astronaut. Thanks for joining us.
VIRTS: Thank you for inviting me.
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