Skip to main content

NASA practices emergency procedures for crewed Boeing Starliner flights

Landing and recovery teams from Boeing and NASA take part in a crew landing dress rehearsal at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico in preparation for missions returning with astronauts from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Landing and recovery teams from Boeing and NASA take part in a crew landing dress rehearsal at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico in preparation for missions returning with astronauts from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Boeing

Boeing is working on a capsule for carrying crew into space called the Starliner, which will eventually be used by NASA to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and back. The company is gearing up for its second orbital flight test of the Starliner, though this test will be uncrewed. But future test flights and operational flights will be crewed, and that means that procedures need to be in place in case of emergency.

This week, NASA tested out these emergency procedures in a dress rehearsal at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, simulating what would happen if there were a medical emergency during a Starliner flight. This particular test simulated astronauts coming back from the ISS and landing, with a crew member who needed to be evacuated to a hospital by medical helicopter.

Recommended Videos

“We are working with Level 1 trauma centers that are fully staffed and have a full complement of doctors and nurses for a variety of conditions and disciplines, allowing us to plug into a network of the best very quickly,” said Michael Schertz, Boeing Starliner medical coordinator and a leader on the landing and recovery team, in a statement.

“While the likelihood of a medical incident requiring this level of care is small, we just don’t know enough to rule out the risk. As such, we prepare for the worst in the hope we never need it,” said Chris Ferguson, Boeing astronaut and director of Commercial Crew Mission Integration and Operations.

The Starliner will land on land, unlike SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule which lands in the ocean. It will come in for landing at one of five sites in the U.S., meaning each site needs to have a safety team prepared for any emergencies.

The test at New Mexico succeeded in locating the capsule and getting the crew member out in less than an hour, which is within the timeframe that the agency aims for.

“Commercial Crew Program missions do not end until crew members are safely out of the Starliner,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “Training exercises like this are essential to ensuring the entire team is prepared for every scenario.”

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Starliner clears routine preflight checks, but still has no return date
Boeing Space's Starliner docked at the International Space Station in June 2024.

It’s been almost two months since Boeing Space’s Starliner spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on its first crewed flight.

The mission was only supposed to last about a week, but issues with the spacecraft’s thrusters, as well as a helium leak, have forced engineers to put off a return flight until they can be certain that the Starliner is up to it.

Read more
The Boeing Starliner still isn’t ready to come home
Boeing's Starliner capsule docked at the ISS.

The saga of Boeing's Starliner continues. The spacecraft, intended to ferry astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS), is currently performing its first crewed test flight, but what was supposed to be a one-week test has turned into a multiweek debacle.

Though the two astronauts who traveled on the Starliner, NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are in no danger, they have been stuck on the ISS for seven weeks now. NASA insists that they are not stranded and that they could use the Starliner to travel back to Earth in the case of an emergency, but concerns about the performance of the Starliner mean they still have no planned return date.

Read more
Yes, the ‘8-day’ Starliner mission is now in its seventh week
Boeing Space's Starliner docked at the International Space Station in June 2024.

Boeing Space's Starliner docked at the International Space Station in 2024. NASA

Boeing Space’s Starliner spacecraft delivered its first crew to the International Space Station (ISS) in early June in a mission that was supposed to last about eight days.

Read more