NASA assures that Boeing Starliner astronauts are not ‘stranded’ on International Space Station

NASA officials said that despite an indefinite delay in their return to Earth, the Boeing Starliner crew stuck at the International Space Station due to mechanical issues with their spacecraft are not “stranded” in space.

Starliner commander Butch Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams have been confined to the space station for weeks after their June 5 launch on Boeing’s first manned space flight. 

They were due to return on June 13 after a week at the station — but the craft suffered issues with its thrusters and helium leaks when docking at the station, keeping them in orbit indefinitely as engineers analyze the problems.

“We don’t have a targeted (landing) date today,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, told reporters during a teleconference, CBS reported. “We’re not going to target a specific date until we get that testing completed.

“So essentially, it’s complete the testing, complete the fault tree, bring that analysis into (the mission management team), and then have an agency-level review. And then we’ll lay out the rest of the plan from undock to landing. I think we’re on a good path.”

The return module of the Starliner spacecraft is docked to the ISS’s Harmony module, but Harmony has limited fuel, narrowing the window for a return date.

Boeing’s service module, which houses the helium lines, thrusters and other critical systems, is discarded before re-entry and burns up in the atmosphere, according to CBS.

Engineers want to study the failed systems and hardware before it’s destroyed and collect as much data as possible before the astronauts return home.

Stich and Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager, insisted that Wilmore and Williams are in no way stranded or in danger, despite the media’s characterization of what’s happening.

“It’s pretty painful to read the things that are out there,” Nappi said. “We’ve gotten a really good test flight…and it’s being viewed rather negatively. We’re not stuck on ISS. The crew is not in any danger, and there’s no increased risk when we decide to bring Suni and Butch back to Earth.”

Stich added that he wants “to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space. 

“Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time,” he assured. “We’ll have a little bit more work to do to get there for the final return, but they’re safe on space station. Their spacecraft is working well, and they’re enjoying their time on the space station.”

The Starliner launched with one known Helium leak, but four others developed as the craft tried to dock. At the station, valves are closed to cut off the helium system, avoiding any additional leakage.

When they depart, however, the valves must be re-opened to repressurize the lines, CBS reported.

Even with the known leaks, the capsule still has 10 times the amount of Helium it needs to get home — but engineers want to ensure that the leaks won’t worsen once the system is pressurized, according to Stich.

The five thrusters in the Starliner’s service module also failed to operate as expected during approach to the space station on June 6, but are ready to operate for departure.

Beginning next week, a new, identical thruster will be test-fired at a NASA facility in New Mexico to determine what may have gone wrong.

The ground tests are expected to last “a couple of weeks.”

Boeing has been plagued by a series of problems over the past few years. In January, a fuselage plug blew off a new Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 at 10,000 feet. Their 737 MAX planes also suffered crashes in 2018 and 2019.