Two NASA astronauts will stay longer at the International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot problems on Boeing’s new space capsule that cropped up on the trip there.
NASA
on Friday did not set a return date until testing on the ground was complete
and said the astronauts were safe.
“We’re
not in any rush to come home,” said NASA’s commercial crew program manager
Steve Stich.
Veteran
NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off aboard Boeing’s
Starliner capsule for the orbiting laboratory on June 5. It was the first
astronaut launch for Boeing after years of delays and setbacks.
The
test flight was expected to last a week or so, enough time for Wilmore and
Williams to check out the capsule while docked at the station. However, problems
with the capsule’s propulsion system, used to maneuver the spacecraft, prompted
NASA and Boeing to delay the flight home several times while they analyzed the
trouble.
They
also wanted to avoid conflicting with spacewalks by station astronauts. But a
spacewalk this week was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s
spacesuit. The issue hasn’t been resolved and the planned spacewalk next week
was postponed.
As
Starliner closed in on the space station a day after launch, last-minute
thruster failures almost derailed the docking. Five of the capsule’s 28
thrusters went down during docking; all but one thruster was restarted.
Starliner
already had one small helium leak when it rocketed into orbit and several more
leaks sprung up during the flight. Helium is used to pressurize fuel for the
thrusters. Boeing said this week that the two problems aren’t a concern for the
return trip.
In
delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing said they needed more time to
collect information about the thruster trouble 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 stay docked at the space station for up to 45
days due to battery limits. But in-flight tests have shown that the limit can be
extended, Stich said.
Officials
said they won’t set a return date while they do ground tests of capsule
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 make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” said
Stich, adding that Starliner is designed for a mission of up to 210 days.
Stich
said the astronauts could return to Earth in Starliner in the case of a space
station emergency.
After the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA turned over
astronaut rides to private companies. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine 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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