Engineers of the POT and the Boeing company They postponed the return to Earth of the first manned flight of the Starlink spacecraft. The capsule with two astronauts is docked at the International Space Station (EEI) since June 6.
helium leaksa valve that does not close and a propeller that does not start These are the faults that technicians must resolve before attempting to undock the space vehicle.
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To be able to bring both of them to Earth astronauts who traveled on the inaugural flight of the Starliner, NASA asked for more time and confirmed that the return will take place after the scheduled date: it will go from June 22 to week of July 26 to 2.
Due to a technical failure, the Starliner ship postponed its return to Earth. (Photo: Reuters/NASA/Roscosmos)
“The extra time will allow the team to finalize egress planning and operations,” NASA wrote on the NASA blog. Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is enabled to “an emergency return of the crew, within the flight rules,” he reported.
NASA stated that they continue with the analysis of Starliner’s capabilities, while preparing for the long-term objective: carry out a six-month mission on the space station.
They work to repair helium leaks and thruster failures
NASA teams working to solve helium leaks and problems with at least four thrusters of the ship’s Reaction Control System.
Besides, the POT and Boeing They will take advantage of the time to perform a power-on test of the eight stern thrusters, while the ship is docked.
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NASA veteran astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore They arrived at the space station on June 6. They were going to be in space for eight days, but due to the faults detected in the ship they will be in the ISS twice as long.
When NASA confirms the green light for undocking, Williams and Wilmore will leave the space station aboard the Starliner. If everything goes according to calculations, after a few hours of flight They will land in the New Mexico desert with parachutes.
