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IT Home reported on August 23 that NASA will hold a press conference on Saturday local time (1:00 a.m. Sunday Beijing time) to announce its final decision on how the two astronauts will return to Earth, that is, either Boeing's "Starliner" or SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

Boeing launched its first "Starliner" manned space mission on June 5, originally planning to stay at the International Space Station for eight days. However, due to problems such as thruster failure and helium leakage, the spacecraft's return time has been repeatedly postponed. The two astronauts have been stranded in space for more than two months.

NASA and Boeing are collecting space and ground data on the Starliner's thrusters and helium systems to better understand potential technical challenges. The review will include mission status updates, technical data reviews, and certification of flight justification to enable evacuation and return from the space station.

Boeing has been working for months to allay NASA's concerns about Starliner issues with new test data that the company claims validates the capsule's safety for astronauts, and NASA is weighing that data against the mission's tolerance for low risk, according to NASA.

According to previous reports by IT Home, NASA has prepared a Plan B, which is to provide two seats for two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft mission.

If NASA chooses to go with Plan B, it would mean Wilmore and Williams would have to wait until the end of the Crew-9 mission in February 2025 to return home, and the Starliner would attempt an uncrewed return.

If NASA determines that the Starliner can ensure the safety of the two astronauts, the agency may make a decision to return within the next month to free up the docking port of the International Space Station for the SpaceX mission.

There is no doubt that this decision is crucial for Boeing, which has been working hard to develop the "Starliner" to compete with SpaceX. Filing documents show that Boeing has lost $1.6 billion in the project (IT Home Note: Currently about 11.429 billion yuan).