iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
In a growing concern, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore remain stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as engineers work to resolve issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft intended for its return to Earth.
The astronauts arrived at the ISS on June 6, originally planning for an eight-day mission. However, 12 days later, NASA and Boeing leadership are still assessing the return timeline for the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft, which experienced a minor helium system leak during its journey to the station.
According to a Boeing spokesperson, progress has been made in addressing the thruster issues: “Four of the five thrusters that were previously malfunctioning are now operating normally. This means only one thruster out of 27 is currently offline, which does not present a critical issue for the return mission.”
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, emphasized the cautious approach: “We are proceeding carefully and following our standard mission management team process. Our decision-making is being driven by the data we’re gathering, particularly in relation to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance observed during rendezvous and docking.”
The US Space Agency reports that the spacecraft requires seven hours to perform a normal end-of-mission procedure. They also note that “the Starliner currently has enough helium left in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking.”
