Already delaying their return by more than a month, two NASA astronauts will remain aboard the International Space Station until engineers address problems plaguing the Boeing capsule, officials said. It was announced on Thursday.
Test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams visited the orbiting laboratory for about a week and were scheduled to return in mid-June, but due to a thruster failure and helium leak in Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, NASA Boeing decided to extend the test.
Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said mission managers are not ready to announce a return date. He added that the goal is to get Wilmore and Williams back on the Starliner.
NASA astronauts ‘stranded’ in space after years of commercial stumbles: 6 facts to solve the problem
“When I’m ready, I’ll go home,” Stich said.
Stitch confirmed that backup options are being considered. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is another means of transporting NASA astronauts to and from the space station.
“NASA always has contingency options,” he said.
The Starliner spacecraft is seen docking with the International Space Station’s Harmony module orbiting 462 miles above Egypt’s Mediterranean coast on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File)
Engineers completed testing a spare thruster in the New Mexico desert last week and plan to dismantle it to figure out what went wrong ahead of Starliner’s docking. As the capsule approached the space station on June 6, the day after launch, five thrusters failed. Four aircraft have since been reactivated.
The helium leak and thruster problems appear to be caused by a degraded seal, which is a completely separate issue that requires further analysis. Boeing’s Mark Nappi said the research team plans to test fire the capsule’s thrusters and collect more data while docked at the space station this weekend.
Each of the 28 maneuvering thrusters fits in your hand and weighs 2 pounds. The capsule is also equipped with a larger engine to de-orbit at the end of the flight. These are all part of the segment that will be discarded before landing and there is no point in studying it for future flights.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
After the Space Shuttle was retired, NASA turned to private companies to fly astronauts to the space station, paying Boeing and SpaceX billions of dollars.
This was Boeing’s first test flight with a crew on board. The first demonstration in 2019 saw it flying, but due to bad software it never reached the space station. Boeing repeated the test in 2022. Then more problems were discovered.
SpaceX has been transporting astronauts since 2020. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded for the past two weeks due to a failure in the upper stage of the satellite delivery mission. The longer the stand-down lasts, the more likely future crew flights will be delayed.