No return date yet for NASA astronauts who launched to space station aboard Boeing’s capsule

Two NASA astronauts will keep longer on the International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot issues on Boeing’s new space capsule that cropped up at the go back and forth there.

NASA on Friday didn’t set a return date till trying out at the floor used to be whole and mentioned the astronauts had been protected.

“We’re not in any rush to come home,” mentioned NASA’s industrial workforce 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 used to be the primary astronaut release for Boeing after years of delays and setbacks.

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

They additionally sought after to steer clear of conflicting with spacewalks via station astronauts.

As Starliner closed in at the space station an afternoon after release, last-minute thruster disasters virtually derailed the docking. Five of the capsule’s 28 thrusters went down all the way through docking; all however one thruster used to be restarted.

Starliner already had one small helium leak when it rocketed into orbit and several other extra leaks sprung up all the way through the flight. Helium is used to pressurize gasoline for the thrusters. Boeing mentioned this week that the 2 issues aren’t a priority for the return go back and forth.

In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing mentioned they wanted extra time to acquire information concerning the thruster hassle and leaks whilst the capsule used to be docked. Both are within the provider module, a unit hooked up to the capsule that burns up all the way through reentry.

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

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