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NASA announced that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft will not carry the two astronauts sent to the International Space Station in June this year back to Earth. The two astronauts will be sent back by SpaceX spacecraft in February next year. The first manned flight of Starliner started well but ended badly. Space X is still the only company that uses launch rockets to help American astronauts travel to and from the International Space Station.

The U.S. government originally hoped to use Boeing's development of manned spacecraft business to get rid of its dependence on Space X. However, Boeing's spacecraft was unreliable, and the astronauts who were forced to stay in space had to "carpool" on SpaceX's spacecraft to return home.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently announced that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that sent astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station in June this year will not carry the two astronauts back to the ground. The two astronauts will continue to work as part of the Expedition 71/72 mission to the International Space Station until February next year, when they will be sent back to the ground by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that will carry out the Crew-9 mission.

NASA's photo above shows two astronauts from the Boeing spacecraft crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, taking a photo at the International Space Station on June 13 this year.

This decision means that due to a series of technical problems with the Starliner, two American astronauts have to stay in space for eight months. The two set off on June 5 and were originally scheduled to stay in space for 80 days. Due to the failure of Starliner, their return was first delayed to July and then delayed several times.

NASA no longer plans to use Starliner to return astronauts, which means that the first manned flight of Starliner ended in failure after a successful launch and docking at the International Space Station, and Boeing's aviation business has been hit hard. Currently, NASA still has to rely heavily on Space X for important space operations. In recent years, SpaceX has been the only flight service company that has used launch rockets to help American astronauts travel to and from the International Space Station.

Some media pointed out that both Space X and Boeing have received billions of dollars in orders from NASA to provide commercial space flight services to astronauts, with Boeing's order value being $4.2 billion and SpaceX's being $2.6 billion.

Carter Palmer, lead analyst for space systems at Forecast International, an aerospace and defense market research firm, commented that NASA has been hoping to have more than one partner option, but has not been successful so far.

Some media said that SpaceX has few rivals in launching manned rockets and small low-Earth satellites, and its CEO Musk's influence in the space field is growing. His influence as the leader of SpaceX is too great. This year he supported Trump's presidential campaign, and his involvement in political issues has attracted more attention.