How will NASA get Boeing Starliner astronauts back to Earth? Decision expected soon

• The news conference, which will be televised and livestreamed, will take place about one hour after Nelson will meet behind closed doors with space officials for a flight readiness review.
• The Starliner capsule has always been the preferred transportation for the crew's return, but NASA has also considered bringing them back on a SpaceX Dragon.
• If that's the decision, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams will remain at the International Space Station until February.

Will the crew of the Boeing Starliner soon return to Earth on the spacecraft that brought them into orbit? Or will the astronauts have no choice but to wait until February to hitch a ride on a SpaceX Dragon?

That answer may be coming soon as NASA officials appear poised to finally reveal the Starliner's fate.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is scheduled to appear for a live news conference at 1 p.m. EDT Saturday from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the agency said Thursday. The news conference, which will be televised and livestreamed, will take place about one hour after Nelson will meet behind closed doors with officials at both NASA and Boeing for a flight readiness review.

A rare process in the middle of a mission, the additional review became necessary for flight engineers to determine whether the beleaguered Starliner is capable of safely returning astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams to Earth – or whether the spacecraft will have to undock with no humans aboard.

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How to watch NASA news conference

Unlike more recent Starliner news conferences, which have been geared primarily toward the media, Saturday's event will be made widely public and will feature the NASA administrator himself.

Those interested in watching the news conference have a variety of ways to do so.

The conference will be streamed on NASA+ and broadcast on NASA Television, which the agency will soon phase out. It can also be watched on the NASA app, the agency’s website and its YouTube channel.

What is a flight readiness review?

The Starliner capsule – built with the intention of running crews and deliveries regularly to the station on behalf of NASA – has always been the preferred transportation for Wilmore and Williams when they eventually make the return journey.

However, NASA and Boeing have contingency plans in place to ensure the veteran astronauts – both of whom have been to space twice before – get home one way or another.

Flight readiness reviews are required before every NASA mission is able to commence. In special circumstances, NASA scientists may need to revisit that review process mid-mission, Ken Bowersox, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said at an Aug. 14 media conference.

Engineering and spaceflight specialists from NASA and Boeing have for the past week or so been collecting and analyzing Starliner data in preparation for the flight readiness review, NASA said Thursday in a blogpost about the mission.

The news conference will follow the review’s conclusion.

Boeing officials have not taken part in recent news conferences with NASA, and the aerospace company has not issued an update of its own since Aug. 2.

What happened with the Boeing Starliner?

The beleaguered Starliner was besieged with troubles even before it finally managed to launch June 5 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its inaugural crewed test flight.

Wilmore and Williams were only meant to be aboard the International Space Station for little more than a week before heading back to Earth. But when they made it to the orbital outpost a day after the launch, engineers discovered a slew of helium leaks and problems with the craft's propulsion system that have hampered Starliner's return to Earth.

Amid the scramble to figure out what to do about Starliner, NASA previously made the call to postpone the launch of SpaceX Crew-9.

That mission had been slated to take off earlier in August for the space station in a routine flight to replace the Crew-8 mission that's been at the outpost since March. But because the four Crew-9 members cannot arrive at the station until the docking port occupied by Starliner is available, that mission won't happen any sooner than Sept. 24, NASA has said.

To stave off any more delays, Starliner will have to undock by then with or without a crew. Whether four astronauts or two astronauts head up to the International Space Station for the six-month Crew-9 rotation depends on whether Wilmore and Williams are on board Starliner when it departs.

In the event that Starliner leaves empty and returns to Earth autonomously, Wilmore and Williams would need to have room to hitch a ride home on Feb. 25 on the Dragon once the Crew-9 team completes its shift.

In the meantime, the astronauts have spent their extended stay working alongside the crew of Expedition 71, performing scientific research and helping to do mainteance on the space station, NASA said.

What is the mission of Starliner?

Starliner is intended to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX to make routine trips to space on behalf of NASA.

The partnership marks a shift in recent years for the U.S. space agency, which has pivoted to paying private companies for missions it once would carry out itself as a way to cut costs. Certifying the Starliner for such missions would provide NASA with a second operational spacecraft to carry astronauts and cargo to the space station after it shelled out billions of dollars to both Boeing and SpaceX to develop the vehicles.

But Boeing has lagged behind SpaceX, which has already begun reliably transporting astronauts and supplies since 2020 to the space station aboard its Dragon. It remains to be seen whether Starliner could still be certified for crewed rotation missions if the capsule returns without its crew.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com