Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will stay at the International Space Station due to problems with their Boeing capsule, officials disclosed on Thursday. Their return has been delayed by over a month already.
They were initially scheduled to return in mid-June after a week-long visit but encountered thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule.
Nasa’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich noted that mission managers have not set a new return date. He emphasized, “We’ll come home when we’re ready,” stating that the objective remains to bring Wilmore and Williams back aboard Starliner. Stich also mentioned that alternative plans are being reviewed, reported AP.
Engineers in New Mexico recently completed tests on a spare thruster to understand the issues that occurred during docking. On June 6, a day after liftoff, five thrusters failed as the capsule approached the space station. Four thrusters have since been reactivated.
Degraded seals appear to be the cause of the helium leaks and thruster issues, but further analysis is required. Boeing’s Mark Nappi said the team plans to test-fire the thrusters this week while the capsule is docked at the space station to gather more data.
Following the retirement of space shuttles, Nasa hired private companies for astronaut transports to the space station, awarding contracts worth billions of dollars to Boeing and SpaceX. This was Boeing’s first crewed test flight. SpaceX has been transporting astronauts since 2020.
They were initially scheduled to return in mid-June after a week-long visit but encountered thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule.
Nasa’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich noted that mission managers have not set a new return date. He emphasized, “We’ll come home when we’re ready,” stating that the objective remains to bring Wilmore and Williams back aboard Starliner. Stich also mentioned that alternative plans are being reviewed, reported AP.
Engineers in New Mexico recently completed tests on a spare thruster to understand the issues that occurred during docking. On June 6, a day after liftoff, five thrusters failed as the capsule approached the space station. Four thrusters have since been reactivated.
Degraded seals appear to be the cause of the helium leaks and thruster issues, but further analysis is required. Boeing’s Mark Nappi said the team plans to test-fire the thrusters this week while the capsule is docked at the space station to gather more data.
Following the retirement of space shuttles, Nasa hired private companies for astronaut transports to the space station, awarding contracts worth billions of dollars to Boeing and SpaceX. This was Boeing’s first crewed test flight. SpaceX has been transporting astronauts since 2020.
Source Agencies
