Space X needs to go rescue them.
I want to make it real clear that we’re not in any rush to come home,
We have the option to bring them back on another vehicle,
I think reasonable people could have different views on which path we should take,
That, I would say, upped the level of discomfort, and not having a total understanding of the physics of what's happening,
We heard from a lot of folks that had concerns, and the decision was not clear,
It is highly unfortunate that Boeing's Starliner, after so much delay with its flight, continues to face problems,
We didn't poll in a way that led to a conclusion,
I have to admit that sometimes when we get disagreement, it’s not fun,
We still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale.”
That gives us a lot of confidence in the thrusters, but we can’t totally prove with certainty what we’re seeing on orbit is exactly what’s been replicated on the ground,
If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return,
Roughly by mid-August, we need to decide" on the Starliner return plan
I don't think we're too far away from making that call,
This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory,
It’s my regret that we didn’t just say we’re going to stay up there until we get everything done that we want to go do,
It’s defined as a test mission, it’s called a crewed test flight, and one of its things is to deal with unplanned issues,
Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open,
I would say that our chances of an uncrewed Starliner return have increased a little bit based on where things have gone over the last week or two, and that's why we're looking more closely at that option
In the last few weeks, we have decided to make sure we have that capability there, as our community, I would say, got more and more uncomfortable,