A pair of NASA astronauts will be on an extended mission aboard the International Space Station to address issues with Boeing’s new space capsule that arose during its recent spaceflight.
NASA announced on Friday that they will not determine a return date until ground testing is completed and the astronauts are deemed safe.
“We are not in a rush to return,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.
The capsule, named Boeing’s Starliner, was launched on June 5 with veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams onboard. This mission marked Boeing’s first astronaut launch after years of delays and setbacks.
The test flight was planned to last around a week, giving Wilmore and Williams time to inspect the capsule while docked at the space station. However, issues with the propulsion system resulted in multiple postponements of the return flight as NASA and Boeing investigated the problem.
Due to complications with the thruster malfunction and leaks in the Service Module, NASA and Boeing decided to delay the astronauts’ return to gather more information. Ground tests will be conducted in New Mexico to replicate the conditions encountered during docking.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has conducted nine crewed flights for NASA since 2020, as part of NASA’s plan to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing for transporting crew members to the space station following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
