Boeing says there’s no race against time to bring Starliner crew home from space.
Boeing said in an email to Fox News Digital that NASA astronauts are not “stranded” and that repairs to a helium leak in the propulsion system and a failed thruster are nearly complete.
This was good news for astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were aboard the spacecraft. Boeing Spacecraftand the success of the Commercial Crew Programme (CCP), which was launched in 2010.
Starliner’s June 5 launch and subsequent return to Earth is a “critical mission” as the US moves away from its reliance on Russia for space travel, said expert Makenna Young.
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“The aurora streams beneath the Boeing Starliner spacecraft docked to the Harmony module’s forward port as the International Space Station rises 266 miles above the Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia,” according to NASA. (NASA/Matt Dominik)
Starliner was scheduled to launch the crew from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida on June 5, and return to Earth on June 13.
However, a series of issues plaguing the spacecraft’s service module have extended the astronauts’ stay in space: Starliner is docked to the International Space Station (ISS), where it can stay for 45 days until repairs are completed.
Boeing added that the spacecraft “has maintained good performance in orbit while docked with the space station.”
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Boeing said the helium leaks are “all stable and will not affect the return mission” and that four of the five shut-down thrusters are “operating normally.”
“This means that only one of the 27 thrusters is currently offline,” Boeing said, adding that it would “not affect the return mission.”
NASA’s Expedition 71 crew with Starliner crew flight test members Suni Williams (first row from left) and Butch Wilmore (first row from right). (NASA)
Once that issue is resolved, what will keep Williams and Wilmore in space?
Boeing said the purpose of the mission is to gather data to fully understand what went wrong, as the problematic service module will be discarded when the crew leaves the ISS and will burn up during re-entry into the atmosphere.
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“The helium system and thrusters will not return to Earth for failure analysis, so Boeing and NASA extended the mission to collect more data,” Boeing said.
“There are ample supplies on orbit and the station’s schedule is relatively light until mid-August, so the crew is not under any pressure to leave the station.”
NASA did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital.
In this handout photo provided by NASA, STS-118 Mission Specialist astronaut Rick Mastracchio participates in the mission’s third spacewalk planning session on Aug. 15, 2007, as construction and maintenance of the International Space Station continues. (NASA via Getty Images)
Why is this mission important?
The SpaceX program, funded by Boeing and Elon Musk, plays a vital role in NASA’s CCP, allowing the agency to send astronauts and cargo to the ISS without relying on Russia.
Young, a fellow at the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said NASA paid Russia about $2 billion to send 30 astronauts back to the ISS after retiring the space shuttle in 2011.
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“This is a very important mission,” Young said.
“These delays seem like a bad thing and can erode confidence in the system, but it’s really important that when we say, ‘Yes, we’re ready to launch humans,’ there’s no doubt in the back of our minds.”
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This was Boeing’s first mission to send humans to the ISS, but SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has completed several successful flights.
Young said the predicament just shows the need for at least two credible options for getting to and from the ISS.
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“It’s also important to emphasize that these astronauts will not be left behind because NASA has another reliable, proven system,” Young said.
“That’s why NASA always has redundancies in place, so if something goes wrong with one program, the other programs can easily take over.”
