The two United States astronauts who flew to space on a Boeing Starliner in early June this year were originally scheduled to return on June 14, but because the Boeing spacecraft had many problems that could affect the safety of the return home, including helium leaks and engine failures, the return time was far away, and they had been trapped on the International Space Station for dozens of days.
Although Boeing and NASA have repeatedly sworn that the two astronauts trapped in space will return on the Boeing spacecraft in a short time, from the current situation, Boeing is likely to be abandoned by NASA, because the performance of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft is really bad, and NASA has to give up.
In order not to interfere with the regular rotation and handover of astronauts on the ISS, there is no time left for the Boeing spacecraft to conduct safety assessments, and the Boeing spacecraft needs to relocate the Crew-9 Crew Dragon spacecraft launched in August this year so that the new spacecraft can dock with the ISS. If this were to happen, it would mean that the starliner manned spacecraft, which is currently in space, would be abandoned and returned empty.
The ISS has a total of eight spacecraft interfaces, two of which are dedicated to cargo spacecraft. There are currently six spacecraft parked on the ISS, including three manned spacecraft and three cargo spacecraft. Among them, the three manned spacecraft are Russia's Soyuz manned spacecraft, United States SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft; The three cargo ships are two Russia's Progress cargo ships and one United States Cygnus cargo spacecraft.
The reason why the Boeing spacecraft wants to make room for the new Dragon spacecraft is because there are differences in the technical standards of the interface of the International Space Station, among the six universal interfaces, four of them are rod cone interfaces, which can only be used by the Russian-made Alliance manned spacecraft and the Progress cargo spacecraft, and there are only two interfaces that can be used for the docking of the manned Dragon spacecraft, namely the axial interface of the Harmony node module and the lateral interface of the zenith direction of the Harmony node module. The Dragon spacecraft currently operating the Crew-8 mission docks sideways to the zenith, while the Boeing Starliner spacecraft docks to the axial interface.
Although it can also dock with manned spacecraft, a special adapter must be installed. However, transporting the adapter into space and installing it is not an easy task. NASA wouldn't do that unless it had to.
There are currently nine people on board the ISS, including seven astronauts who have been on the ISS for a long time and two astronauts who have been brought into the ISS by a Boeing spacecraft and are unable to return. Although there are still two manned spacecraft available on the ISS, they are both fully loaded, of which the Soyuz occupies 3 people and the Dragon spacecraft occupies 4 people, and there are no extra places.
Letting those two astronauts die is certainly not what NASA wants to see, because it will greatly hit the United States space industry! If Boeing decides to give up, there are three options for returning the two astronauts stranded on the space station.
The first option is to launch an empty ship to bring back the astronauts stranded in space. Russia's space agency did this a few years ago, and it is estimated that it lost hundreds of millions of dollars. At present, only China, the United States and Russia have available manned spacecraft in the world, and the Shenzhou manned spacecraft on the mainland definitely do not need to be considered, because the interfaces are different. And given the current delicate relationship between the United States and Russia, NASA's first choice must be SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. However, Musk had previously offered a sky-high price of $350 million, I don't know if Boeing can accept it?
The second option is to install two more seats on the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which can carry six people, in order to bring the two astronauts back. SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is designed to carry up to seven astronauts, but NASA limits it to four on safety grounds. If NASA allows it, two more seats will definitely be enough. It's just that the Crew-8 spacecraft in orbit should not be able to fit, because the ISS may not have extra chairs and still need to be transported into space by cargo spacecraft. Rather than that, the Crew-9 spacecraft, scheduled for launch in August, should be fitted with two additional seats so that the spacecraft can bring the two astronauts back to Earth after the mission is over.
The third option is to have the Crew-9 mission carry only two astronauts into space, leaving two places for the two astronauts trapped in space for future return. The two United States astronauts are so experienced that it should be feasible to remain on the ISS mission. However, the International Space Station is not owned by United States alone, and doing so will affect the subsequent operation of the space station and requires the permission of other partners.
The first option would allow the astronauts to be launched at any time to bring the astronauts back, while the second and third options would need to take into account the implementation of the space station mission. The astronauts on the International Space Station are usually rotated every six months, and the latter two options require the two Boeing astronauts trapped in space to stay on the space station for another six months before returning home. The second option also requires an additional guarantee for the two trapped astronauts to live on the ISS for half a year, which is also a significant expense.
Which way is more economical and secure? It's up to Boeing and NASA to make the final choice. As for the cost of the rescue and the losses caused, it must be Boeing who paid for it, after all, it has to bear the sin it has created.