Two NASA astronauts will spend more time on the International Space Station while engineers troubleshoot problems in Boeing’s new space capsule that came up on the trip there.
NASA on Friday did not set a return date until ground testing was completed and it said the astronauts were safe.
“We’re in no rush to get home,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.
Veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule to the orbiting laboratory on June 5. It was Boeing’s first astronaut launch after years of delays and setbacks.
The test flight was expected to last about a week, enough time for Wilmore and Williams to check out the capsule while it docked at the station. But problems with the capsule’s propulsion systemused to maneuver the spacecraft, led NASA and Boeing to delay the flight home several times while they analyzed the problem.
They also wanted to avoid conflicts with spacewalks by the station’s astronauts. But a spacewalk this week was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s spacesuit. The problem has not been resolved and the spacewalk planned for next week has been postponed.
When Starliner approached the space station a day after launch, last-minute thruster failures nearly derailed docking. Five of the capsule’s 28 boosters fell off during docking; all but one thruster were restarted.
The Starliner already had a small helium leak when it entered orbit and several other leaks appeared during the flight. Helium is used to pressurize the propellant fuel. Boeing said this week that the two problems are not a concern for the return trip.
In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing said they needed more time to gather information about problems and leaks in the thrusters while the capsule was docked. Both are in the service module, a unit attached to the capsule that burns during reentry.
NASA initially said the Starliner could remain docked at the space station for up to 45 days due to battery limits. But flight tests have shown that the limit can be extended, Stich said.
Officials said they will not set a return date while they conduct ground tests of capsule propellants in the New Mexico desert, which are expected to last a few 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 stuck in space,” Stich said, adding that Starliner was designed for a mission of up to 210 days.
Stich said astronauts could return to Earth on the Starliner in the event of an emergency on the space station.
After the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA turned over astronaut travel to private companies. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has flown nine taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing in transporting crews to and from the space station.
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