SpaceX President Breaks Silence On NASA Plan To Use Dragon For Boeing’s Astronauts

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SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell has shared that her company is ready to work with NASA to bring back astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams' fate 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 for the astronauts' return as part of the Crew-9 mission, which is currently slated to take 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 ship. Currently, the US section of the International Space Station (ISS) can accommodate two crewed vehicles, and along with Starliner, SpaceX's Dragon for the Crew-8 mission is also docked with the ISS.

Related Story NASA Will Bring Boeing’s Crew Home On SpaceX’s Ship Due To “Too Much Risk” To Astronauts

Therefore, to accommodate the Crew-9 Dragon, Starliner must undock from the ISS and this tight requirement was the driving factor behind NASA's decision today as doing so otherwise would have meant that Starliner spent more than six months on station and SpaceX's Crew-8 would have had to undock first.

In her post on X after today's announcement, SpaceX's Shotwell shared that "SpaceX stands ready to support NASA however 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 mission's original complement included four astronauts. Then, it will ensure that the Dragon's seats do not impact its mission profile because of the updated crew manifest.

Another change in the Crew-9 manifest resulting from today's decision