After what was supposed to be an eight-day mission, US astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore have been stuck on their space capsule attached to the International Space Station for nearly a month, while engineers fix issues with Starliner.
It's still uncertain when the astronauts will be coming back to Earth. A Boeing spokesperson told the Guardian that they've postponed the return of the Starliner Crew Flight Test until after two upcoming spacewalks on June 24 and July 2. They don't have a set date yet for the return and will decide after these spacewalks.
The spokesperson also mentioned that the astronauts aren't in a rush to leave the station because there are enough supplies in space, and the station's schedule is pretty open until mid-August.
The Starliner took off on June 5 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, following two failed attempts on May 6 and June 1.
This NASA-Boeing mission, which was already a year late and $1.5 billion over budget, faced problems well before its launch, like issues with thrusters and helium leaks.
The Boeing spokesperson mentioned that the helium leaks and most of the thruster issues are now stable and won't affect the return mission.
The spokesperson added that four out of five thrusters that were having issues are now working fine. This leaves just one thruster out of 27 offline, which won't cause any problems for the return mission.
Nasa and Boeing officials are emphasizing that the astronauts are not stranded, and they assure that the technical issues won't jeopardize the mission. Nasa mentioned that the spacecraft needs seven hours of free-flight time for a standard mission conclusion, and currently, it still has enough helium for 70 hours of free-flight activity after undocking.
Steve Stich, Nasa's commercial crew program manager, stated in a press briefing last week that they are proceeding carefully and following their usual mission management process. They are using data to guide decisions on handling the minor helium system leaks and thruster performance issues observed during rendezvous and docking.
If there's an emergency or a need for a quick departure, the spacecraft can undock and return to Earth without any issues.
Nasa explained that while Starliner is docked, all the valves are closed as part of normal operations, which prevents helium from leaking out of the tanks.
If the Starliner isn't working properly, Williams and Wilmore might need to hitch a ride with the crew on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which is currently docked on the opposite side of the International Space Station.
Boeing's current crisis follows other public issues they've faced with different commercial aircraft, but the company insists these are separate operations.
During a May news conference, Nasa administrator Bill Nelson noted that the Starliner launch marks only the sixth first-ever journey of a crewed spacecraft in US history. He mentioned the lineage from Mercury to Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle, SpaceX's Dragon, and now Starliner.
SOURCE: The Guardian