TWO Nasa astronauts are stuck in space after riding a faulty Boeing capsule into orbit.
Crews on Earth are scrambling to diagnose the issue as Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remain stranded at the International Space Station.
The astronauts were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 after spending no more than a week on the ISS.
But Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft encountered numerous problems during the 25-hour flight, triggering a two-week extension to their stay.
Wilmore and Williams are now expected to return home no sooner than June 26.
Starliner departed from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on June 5 in what would be its first crewed flight.
However, engineers quickly encountered issues, identifying five separate helium leaks to the spacecraft’s thruster system.
Nasa announced that it would delay the return flight to give engineers time to diagnose the issues, which seemed partially resolved during a test on June 15.
“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” said Steve Stich, manager of Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program, at a media conference last week.
“We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.”
Mark Nappi, Boeing‘s Starliner program manager, described the error-prone helium system as “manageable” despite “not working like we designed it”.
“So we’ve got to go figure that out,” he said.
The Nasa team is reviewing future return opportunities following the station’s two planned spacewalks on June 24 and July 2.
“We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Suni’s return on Starliner and gaining valuable insight into the system upgrades we will want to make for post-certification missions,” he said.
Wilmore and Williams are assisting with station operations as needed while Starliner remains docked at the ISS.
They join the seven-member Expedition 71 crew, who have been stationed at the ISS since April, exploring neuro-degenerative diseases, space botany, and more.
“The crew’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and they know that every bit of learning we do on the Crew Flight Test will improve and sharpen our experience for future crews,” Nappi said.
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Boeing‘s Defense, Space & Security division built the spacecraft as part of Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program in 2011.
A software error saw Starliner land in the wrong orbit during its first uncrewed test flight in 2019, while a subsequent attempt was hindered by problems with a fuel valve.
After further investigation, the company resolved issues with parachutes and stripped around a mile of flammable tape from the capsule.
The current mission was the third attempt to take Wilmore and Williams to the ISS.
The first didn’t pan out due to a faulty oxygen valve on the rocket carrying Starliner, and the second stalled following an error in a ground launch sequence.
The latest delay also comes as Boeing is awash in controversy surrounding its commercial aircraft.
Safety concerns prompted dual Senate hearings earlier this year where whistleblowers made allegations of harassment and intimidation against their superiors.
This came after a series of widely documented incidents that saw emergency evacuation slides plummeting through midair and, in one instance, a panel called a “plug door.”
Alaska Airlines was forced to cancel thousands of flights after that accident, which occurred shortly after takeoff from the Portland International Airport.
The manufacturer has also drawn scrutiny following the deaths of two whistleblowers within weeks of each other, which sparked conspiracy theories online.
