Why NASA Astronauts Are ‘STRANCHED’ in Space Because of Boeing Starliner

The delayed return of NASA astronauts from the International Space Station due to a malfunctioning Boeing Starliner has raised concerns that the crew could be “stranded.”

While Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s stay was recently extended to an indefinite date, experts told DailyMail.com the delay is for them to analyze the service module while it is still in space.

“The service module is not returning to Earth, which means it cannot be recovered and there is no way to analyze what the problem is,” Scott Walter, who has a doctorate in mechanical aerospace engineering, told DailyMail.com.

“The more time they have to debug it and run different tests, the better.”

Walter also noted that “nothing is off the table,” suggesting that NASA has already talked to SpaceX about a possible rescue mission and that next month’s private Polaris Dawn spaceflight could also be part of the agency’s Plan B.

The service module, located at the bottom of the capsule, contains a total of 48 thrusters and four launch abort engines.

The structure will be jettisoned when Starliner reenters the atmosphere and likely burns up, leaving NASA and Boeing without critical data on what caused the failure.

Michael Lembeck, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told DailyMail.com that NASA and Boeing are just doing their homework.

“It’s too early to address the root cause of the problem,” said Lembeck, who was a consultant to Boeing’s aerospace division from 2008 to 2013.

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He further explained that keeping Starliner docked to the ISS is the only way to fully study the capsule.

DailyMail.com has contacted Boeing for comment.

“I think NASA is considering all contingencies well in advance,” said Walter, chief technical advisor for Visual Components North America.

“They’ve already thought through these scenarios if one of these capsules gets stranded or something goes wrong – they’re not suddenly scrambling to figure it out.”

He further explained that NASA and SpaceX likely had discussions “behind the scenes” about using the Dragon capsule.

“I think there’s a Polaris Dawn mission with Jared Issacman that could potentially be turned into a rescue mission,” Walter added.

“I’m sure he’d love to say go ahead.”

Issacman has funded the Polaris Dawn mission, which launches July 12 and will feature the first commercial spacewalk.

DailyMail.com asked Issacman if he would be willing to carry out a rescue mission for the astronauts, to which he said “no official comment.”

“As far as I know, Starliner can come home just fine, but if they were to give up on that vehicle, I think realistically NASA would just send Crew 9 up with two crew members,” he said.

NASA postponed the return to June 14 and then again to June 26. Last weekend it was announced that the date had not yet been announced.

Starliner had a known helium leak when it launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5 at 10:52 a.m. ET.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said last month that he was confident that 27 of those 28 thrusters were functioning properly, free of leaks or other problems.

However, Starliner suffered five failures in its 28 thrusters, five leaks of helium gas used to pressurize the thrusters and a slow-moving fuel valve that indicated unresolved problems since launch.

When Starliner arrived at the space station for docking on June 6, the five thruster failures prevented the spacecraft from getting close to the space station until Boeing corrected the fault.

The software was rewritten and a number of procedures were adjusted to revive four of them and continue with the pairing.

Starliner’s undocking and return to Earth represent the most complicated phases of the spacecraft’s test mission.

Boeing spent $1.5 billion on cost overruns that went beyond the $4.5 billion NASA development contract.

NASA officials have said they want to better understand the cause of the booster failures, the valve problem and the helium leaks before the Starliner begins its reentry.

While only one thruster has failed on Starliner’s current flight, Boeing experienced four thruster problems during the capsule’s unmanned return from space in 2022.

Lembeck explained that the helium in the thrusters causes the valves to open and close.

There are seals on the valve, which look like the temperature changes that occur during a space mission could warp the seal

“This is the first run of a crewed vehicle and every first flight has had problems,” Lembeck said.

“In Boeing’s defense, when NASA proposed Starliner, NASA didn’t provide a full budget schedule and they had to make some choices, but I’m not saying that led to these problems.”

He also predicted that Starliner will likely return with Williams and Wilmore in the first or second week of July.

Rudy Ridolfi, former Space System Commander and Space Technology Acquisition Manager, told DailyMail.com: ‘NASA will take a very conservative approach and the Boeing reentry plan will be submitted to Bill Nelson for final approval.

“There is no rush at this point. If Boeing were to fail to return the two astronauts in the Starliner, the program would almost certainly die.”

The Starliner has an operational lifespan of 45 days, meaning the ship should be back in service by mid-July.

“The two astronauts are qualified test pilots, they have a lot of experience, they are veterans of space and they make the final decision whether the vehicle is safe or not – the pilot always has the final decision,” Walter said.

“They’re probably consulting with NASA and it’s not likely the government will pressure them to back down.”