By Adithi Ramakrishnan
USA, JUNE 28, 2024 (AP) – Two NASA astronauts will spend more time on the International Space Station while engineers fix problems with Boeing’s new space capsule that arose during the trip there.
NASA on Friday did not set a return date until ground testing was completed and said the astronauts were safe.
“We’re in no rush to get home,” said NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.
Veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule toward the orbiting laboratory on June 5. It was Boeing’s first astronaut launch after years of delays and setbacks.
The test flight was expected to last about a week, enough time for Wilmore and Williams to check out the capsule while it was docked with the station. But problems with the capsule’s propulsion system, used to maneuver the spacecraft, led NASA and Boeing to delay the return flight several times while they analyzed the problem.
They also wanted to avoid conflicts with the spacewalks of the station’s astronauts. But a spacewalk this week was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s spacesuit. The problem has not been resolved and the spacewalk planned for next week was postponed.
As Starliner approached the space station a day after launch, last-minute thruster failures nearly derailed docking. Five of the capsule’s 28 thrusters shut down during docking; All but one thruster was restarted.
Starliner had already suffered a small helium leak when it launched into orbit and several more leaks occurred during the flight. Helium is used to pressurize the propellant fuel. Boeing said this week that the two problems are not a problem for the return trip.
In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing said they needed more time to gather information about the propellant problems and leaks while the capsule was docked. Both are in the service module, a unit attached to the capsule that burns up during reentry.
NASA initially said the Starliner could remain docked with the space station for up to 45 days due to battery limits. But flight tests have shown that that limit can be extended, Stich said.
Officials said they won’t set a return date while they conduct ground tests of the capsules’ thrusters in the New Mexico desert, which were expected to last a couple of weeks. They want to try to replicate the situation that occurred during docking.
“I want to be very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” Stich said, adding that Starliner is designed for a mission of up to 210 days.
Stich said astronauts could return to Earth on Starliner in the event of an emergency on the space station.
After the space shuttle fleet was retired, NASA turned astronaut rides over to private companies. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has flown nine taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing in transporting crews to and from the space station.
