Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth on March 19 after spending nearly 10 months in space. The two astronauts went to the International Space Station on the Boeing Starliner. The spacecraft was used despite the various problems identified during previous launch attempts. Before it could dock with the ISS, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned. Even though the astronauts entered the ISS safe and sound, the situation during docking was much scarier than was revealed to the public.

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Starliner was launched from NASA's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5 after two previous attempts were scrubbed - on May 6 and then on June 1 because of a helium leak and later a ground computer hardware fault.

NASA dropped protocol with Starliner

Starliner reached orbit and continued to attempt docking with the space station even though multiple thrusters had failed. NASA bent the rules and let it push further, which put the duo in a dangerous position. 

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Butch Wilmore told Ars Technica in an interview that flight rules were waived off which would have otherwise dictated that they return back to Earth. The thrusters malfunctioned during docking, and Wilmore said they became "single fault tolerant", which meant that if another thruster failed, the ground mission would lose full control of the capsule's movement.

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At this point, he revealed they both thought that they would be returning. "We're single fault tolerant, and I'm thinking, 'Wow, we're supposed to leave the space station. Because I know the flight rules," he told Ars Technica.

NASA huddled to decide whether to dock or not

Back at the NASA headquarters, officials started discussing whether to go ahead with the docking or not. They ultimately decided to go ahead, and Wilmore isn't sure why that happened.

Also Read: The gravity of politics: Sunita's extended Starliner Mission and the earthbound echoes

"We didn't know why. [flight rules] just dropped."

The capsule soon became "zero-fault tolerant", and at this point, they could not turn back. Wilmore recalled that he was in manual control which felt "sluggish" as compared to "the first day."

NASA started working to fix the reaction control systems remotely after four out of 28 had failed. Two of them came back online.

A space odyssey that stretched and stretched

Starliner finally docked, but not before creating a scare. It was supposed to return eight days later, but the plethora of issues led officials to decide against it.

Also Read: What Sunita Williams said as Starliner began its return journey to Earth. 'Bring her back...'

They worked to fix the problems remotely but could not. So it returned empty on 7 September 2024. Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore waited for a flight back home for nearly 10 months. They finally returned aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.