Boeing and NASA are once again “adjusting” the return home of two astronauts from the International Space Station Starliner.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were scheduled to stay on the ISS for just a week after docking there on June 6. Now they are not expected to make the trip back to Earth until at least early July, after two planned spacewalks and ongoing reviews of reported information. problems with the spacecraft, Boeing announced in a June 21 update.
The space agencies have not announced a new return date after recently saying the astronauts could return on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Here’s what we know.
Starliner’s return has been postponed due to spacewalks and assessment of spacecraft problems
Rescheduling the Starliner’s docking and landing from Wednesday deconflicts with “a series of planned (ISS) spacewalks while allowing mission teams time to review propulsion system data,” the aerospace company said in the update.
The spacewalks were scheduled for Monday and July 2, NASA and Boeing said, meaning the astronauts would not return until they were completed. The spacewalk that was supposed to take place on Monday was canceled due to a problem with the space suit. NASA has not yet said how this will affect the planned spacewalk schedule or whether it will further delay the astronauts’ return.
USA TODAY contacted Boeing, who referred questions to NASA. USA TODAY reached out to NASA Monday morning but has not yet received a response.
The crew is also investigating some problems with the Starliner spacecraft.
“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager, said in the update. “We are letting the data drive our decision-making regarding management of the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during the rendezvous and docking.”
Stitch also said an “agency-level review” would be necessary due to the duration of the mission. He compared it to what was done leading up to the return of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 after spending two months in orbit.
US spacewalk 90 canceled
Although NASA and Boeing rescheduled the Starliner’s return to accommodate the spacewalks, America’s Spacewalk 90 was scrapped Monday morning due to “a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit of NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson’s spacesuit,” according to NASA .
The water leak was noticed after Dyson and astronaut Mike Barratt put their suits on battery power Monday morning, NASA said.
The spacewalk was initially scheduled for June 14, but that attempt was postponed due to a “space suit problem.”
The spacewalk is intended to “remove a defective electronics box from a communications antenna on the starboard truss of the space station,” according to NASA. The astronauts also reportedly collected samples for analysis to “understand the ability of microorganisms to survive and reproduce on the outside of the orbiting laboratory,” the government agency said.
Are the astronauts stuck in space?
While Wilmore and Williams’ return home remains delayed, Boeing said there are still sufficient supplies for the astronauts and that the station’s schedule is “relatively open until mid-August.” In the event of an emergency on the ISS, the Starliner will be cleared to leave orbit and return to Earth, the company added.
Boeing added that the crew “will not have time to depart” as the astronauts continue to assist with station operations as needed and complete NASA’s additional objectives during the flight.
“The feedback from the crew has been overwhelmingly positive and they know that every bit we learn during the Crew Flight Test will improve and sharpen our experience for future crews,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Starliner Program, in the statement. press release of June 21.
“Starliner performs well in orbit while docked with the space station,” Stich said. “We are using the additional time strategically to clear a path for some critical station activities while we complete preparations for Butch and Suni’s return to Starliner and gain valuable insight into the system upgrades we plan to make for post-certification missions. ”
Problems with Boeing Starliner, including helium leaks
Helium leaks and a faulty thruster valve hampered the Starliner’s launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 5. These same problems still appear to be affecting the spacecraft weeks later.
There have been a series of helium leaks in the Starliner’s propulsion system, Stich said during a media teleconference on June 18. So far, five leaks have been found since the Starliner docked with the ISS, he added.
“The path forward is to continue to look at the helium system to try to understand what’s happening, look again at simulations for the rest of the flight… and then the operational techniques to manage the helium system,” Stich said.
The faulty thruster valve, which remains offline as of June 15, is another problem, but Stich said the crew did not plan to use it on the return flight “out of an abundance of caution.” It is believed the valve went offline due to the extreme heat generated while the thrust system was firing in “rapid succession” to keep the Starliner on track with the space station, Stich said.