This photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13.
Boeing’s Starliner will come back to Earth empty, and the two astronauts who took it up into orbit on a test flight will return in a capsule built by a competing company, SpaceX.
The long-awaited decision by NASA means the astronauts will have to cool their heels on the International Space Station until February.
And it’s a stunning blow to Boeing's beleaguered Starliner program, which has been beset by delays and technical troubles.
“Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine. And a test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at a press briefing on Saturday.
