The two American astronauts testing Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft were due to begin their return to Earth on Wednesday, but instead They are still on the International Space Station (ISS). Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams left Florida and arrived at the space station on June 6, planning to stay aboard the spacecraft for eight days.
A week turned into 20 days, after a postponement that expected the astronauts to remain on the station longer than expected. After that deadline, this Wednesday, the technical problems that the vehicle faced during the trip, including helium leaks and thrusters that abruptly stopped working, still appear to have not been resolved, although Boeing argues that they “do not constitute a concern for the return mission.” ”.
NASA and Boeing officials insist that astronauts are not retained and that technical difficulties do not threaten the mission. NASA stated that the spacecraft requires seven hours of free flight to complete a normal mission and that it “currently has enough helium in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity after undocking.”
“We are taking our time and following the normal process of the mission management team,” says Steve Stich, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “We let the data guide our decision-making about managing small leaks in the helium system and the thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking,” NASA’s website reads.
It is not yet known exactly when astronauts will be able to return to Earth. A Boeing spokesperson told The Guardian that “they have adjusted the return of the Starliner crew flight test after two spacewalks scheduled for Monday, June 24 and Tuesday, July 2” and that “They currently have no return date.and we will evaluate the opportunities later.”
The spokesperson also noted that “the crew does not have time to leave the station, since there are many supplies in orbit and the season calendar is relatively open until mid-August.”
Boeing wants to celebrate its greatest achievement in June: transporting two NASA astronauts on a round trip to the International Space Station, demonstrating that the capsule will be capable, in the future, of transporting crew members and beginning space exploration by part of non-professionals. There is still half the way to reach the objective that the aviation company has set.
Source: Observadora
