Boeing astronauts are still stranded on the International Space Station, with the timeline for their return becoming increasingly uncertain as time passes.
BlazeNews previously reported on aerospace and defense company Boeing and its planned launch of its Starliner spacecraft in early June 2024.
The mission to the International Space Station, carrying crew members Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, was originally scheduled to return to Earth just eight days after launch, but the mission failed well before the scheduled return date, more than eight weeks after the spacecraft was launched into space.
With no return date set, speculation has begun about how the astronauts will get home after it became clear that a helium leak and thruster failure were blocking Starliner’s path and preventing re-entry.
As TMZ NASA reportedly said the astronauts may have to return aboard the Dragon Crew 9 mission operated by rival company SpaceX, led by Elon Musk.
Crew 9 was originally scheduled to launch to the ISS on August 18, 2024, but was later postponed until September 24, 2024. Space Flight Now.
With that in mind, most reports suggest SpaceX’s six-month mission won’t return until at least February 2025, but considering the delayed launch date, it could be as soon as March 2025. This could stretch Boeing’s mission from around two weeks to around nine or 10 months.
It was previously unclear whether Starliner would rely on SpaceX for the return mission, but NASA has made it clear that SpaceX’s launch delay is directly related to Boeing’s mission.
“This adjustment allows mission managers more time to finalize return plans for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, which is currently docked to the orbital laboratory,” NASA said in a statement.
However, Boeing’s latest mission update stated that the company’sTrust remains high“The Starliner will make its own journey home.”
“Based on the numerous tests our teams and NASA have conducted in space and on the ground, we remain confident in Starliner’s ability to safely return it and its crew to Earth,” Boeing wrote. X.
SpaceX is reportedly testing a scenario in which it could accommodate two additional crew members on the Dragon Crew 9 return to Earth, and has already identified flight suits to fit the two Boeing astronauts.
The Crew-9 mission was originally scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center with four astronauts: Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
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