NASA astronauts will stay at the space station longer for more troubleshooting of Boeing capsule

Two NASA astronauts will keep longer on the Worldwide Area Station as engineers troubleshoot issues on Boeing’s new space capsule that cropped up on the journey there.

NASA on Friday didn’t set a return date till testing on the bottom was full and stated the astronauts have been secure.

“We’re not in any rush to return house,” stated NASA’s industrial crew program supervisor Steve Stich.

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

The test flight was anticipated to final every week or so, sufficient time for Wilmore and Williams to take a look at the capsule whereas docked on the station. However problems with the capsule’s propulsion system, used to maneuver the spacecraft, prompted NASA and Boeing to delay the flight house a number of occasions whereas they analyzed the difficulty.

Additionally they wished to keep away from conflicting with spacewalks by station astronauts. However a spacewalk this week was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s spacesuit. The problem hasn’t been resolved and the deliberate spacewalk subsequent week was postponed.

As Starliner closed in on the space station a day after launch, last-minute thruster failures virtually derailed the docking. 5 of the capsule’s 28 thrusters went down throughout docking; all however one thruster was restarted.

Starliner already had one small helium leak when it rocketed into orbit and a number of other extra leaks sprung up through the flight. Helium is used to pressurize gas for the thrusters. Boeing stated this week that the 2 issues aren’t a priority for the return journey.

In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing stated they wanted extra time to gather details about the thruster bother and leaks whereas the capsule was docked. Each are within the service module, a unit connected to the capsule that burns up throughout reentry.

NASA initially stated the Starliner may keep docked on the space station for as much as 45 days on account of battery limits. However in-flight assessments have proven that restrict will be prolonged, Stich stated.

Officers stated they will not set a return date whereas they do floor assessments of capsule thrusters within the New Mexico desert, which have been anticipated to final a few weeks. They wish to attempt to replicate the state of affairs that occurred throughout docking.

“I wish to make it very clear that Butch and Suni will not be stranded in space,” stated Stich, including that Starliner is designed for a mission of as much as 210 days.

Stich stated the astronauts may return to Earth in Starliner within the case of a space station emergency.

After the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA turned over astronaut rides to non-public corporations. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made 9 taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing in ferrying crews to and from the space station.

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