Two astronauts stranded in space for 49 days – 41 days longer than their planned mission – because their Boeing-build ride home is full of leaks will have to spend at least a few more weeks aboard the International Space Station, officials said Thursday.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were meant to spend just eight days in space following their launch aboard to Boeing Starliner — the maiden crewed voyage for the spacecraft.
Once in space, astronauts found a series of concerning helium leaks and have been testing whether the ship can be used to return them to Earth.
Now, they’re expected to stay in orbit until sometime in August, Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, told reporters.
Before the astronauts can come home, NASA and Boeing experts said they need to complete a final set of tests for Starliner’s thrusters scheduled for this weekend.
Should the thruster tests prove successful and the helium leaks continue to remain stable, then NASA would schedule an agency review next week, which would then set an official date for Wilmore and Williams’ return.
“The prime intent is still to return Butch and Suni aboard Starliner,” Stich added.
Mark Nappi, the manager of Boeing Starliner program, said that the company ultimately regrets announcing that Wilmore and Williams’ mission would eight days, as the delays have garnered backlash against the troubled aerospace giant.
“My regret is that we didn’t say we would stay up there until the mission is complete, but I’m very confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back,” Nappi said.
NASA noted that should anything go wrong with the weekend tests and Starliner proves too big of a risk for a return trip, then the agency has other backup methods to getting the astronauts home.
The easiest method, Stich said, was for Willmore and Suni to hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship.
The Boeing rival, which recently ferried four astronauts to the ISS in March, is capable of carrying two to four passengers at a time, but it can fit additional occupants if needed.
“The beauty of having Dragon and Starliner is that we have two different systems of transportation to the ISS,” Stich said. “Someday Starliner could be a backup to a Dragon mission.”
SpaceX has served as the sole commercial company approved to transport astronauts and cargo to the space station since 2020.
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