NASA astronauts will extend stay at space station as engineers fix Boeing spacecraft problem: NPR

Boeing Crew Dragon flight test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, center, pose with Expedition 71 flight engineers Mike Barratt, left, and Tracy Dyson, both NASA astronauts, in their spacesuits aboard the International Space Station’s Quest air capsule on June 24, 2024.

NASA via AP/NASA

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NASA via AP/NASA

Two NASA astronauts will stay longer at the International Space Station as engineers fix problems aboard Boeing’s new spacecraft encountered during the trip there.

NASA on Friday did not set a return date until ground testing was complete and said the astronauts were safe.

“We’re in no rush to get home,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.

Veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner to the orbiting laboratory on June 5. It was Boeing’s first astronaut launch after years of delays and setbacks.

The test flight was scheduled to last about a week, enough time for Wilmore and Williams to test the capsule while docked at the station. But problems with the capsule’s propulsion system, which is used to control the spacecraft, forced NASA and Boeing to delay the return flight several times while they analyzed the problem.

They also wanted to avoid conflicts with spacewalks by astronauts on the station. However, this week’s spacewalk was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s spacesuit. The problem has not been resolved and next week’s spacewalk has been postponed.

As the Starliner approached the space station the day after launch, a last-minute thruster failure nearly ruined docking. Five of the ship’s 28 thrusters failed during docking; all but one thruster were restarted.

The Starliner had a small helium leak as it launched into orbit and several other leaks occurred during flight. Helium is used to pressurize fuel for propulsion. Boeing said this week that the two issues were not a concern for the return trip.

In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing said they needed more time to gather information about the failure and leak of the boosters while the shuttle was docked. Both were in the service module, a part attached to the capsule that would burn up during reentry.

NASA initially said Starliner could dock at the space station for up to 45 days due to battery limitations. But flight tests suggest that limit could be extended, Stich said.

Officials said they will not set a return date while they conduct ground tests of the capsule’s thrusters in the New Mexico desert, which are expected to last several weeks. They want to try to replicate the situation that occurred during the docking.

“I want to be clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” Stich said, adding that Starliner is designed for missions lasting up to 210 days.

Stich said astronauts could return to Earth aboard the Starliner in case of an emergency on the space station.

After the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, NASA turned over astronaut missions to private companies. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has conducted nine taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing in shuttling crews to and from the space station.