NASA has said it has not yet decided how to bring home two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) after their spacecraft developed malfunctions on their outward journey.
At a news conference Wednesday, the space agency said Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived at the ISS in June expecting to be there for eight days, may still have to stay until February.
The astronauts arrived there in a Boeing Starliner, the first crew to use the ship.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft seen from the ISS. Photo: NASA
But the ship suffered propellant failures and helium leaks along the way, raising questions about whether it could safely transport them back to Earth, leaving the couple in space limbo.
The thrusters are crucial to keeping the capsule in the correct position when it comes time to descend from orbit.
If NASA decides not to use the Starliner, which Boeing says can return them safely, they would travel on the next SpaceX flight, which would mean remaining on the space station until next February.
But by then they will have been in space for eight months.
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from NASA Space operations mission chief Ken Bowersox told reporters they are analyzing more data before making a decision either late next week or early next week.
He said: “We have time on our hands before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely.”
The switch to SpaceX would also mean removing two of the four astronauts who would be aboard the SpaceX flight, currently scheduled for late September.
The astronauts of the International Space celebrate an ironic Olympics in space.
Wilmore and Williams would fill the empty seats on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule once that half-year mission ends.
Added NASA security chief Russ DeLoach: “We don’t have enough information or data to do any kind of simple black-and-white calculation.”
DeLoach said the space agency wants to accommodate all opinions, unlike what happened in the two NASA shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia, when dissenting opinions were ignored.
Suni Williams shows off her space hair during a press conference in July. Photo: AP
“That can mean that sometimes we don’t move very quickly because we’re getting everything out there, and I think you can see that at play here,” he said.
One complication is that the spacesuits they wore to travel to the ISS on Starliner would not be suitable on the SpaceX ship, if it is used to take them home, meaning they may have to return to Earth without a suit.
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The BBC, quoting Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, said: “They would not be suitable in the [SpaceX] Dragon Crew.”
Wilmore and Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago and have been helping with experiments and repairs since they arrived.
NASA chief astronaut Joe Hace said: “They will do what we ask them to do. That’s their job as astronauts.”
“This mission is a test flight, and as Butch and Suni expressed before launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect.”
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