Boeing group flight take a look at astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, heart, pose with Expedition 71 flight engineers Mike Barratt, left, and Tracy Dyson, each NASA astronauts, of their spacesuits aboard the Global House Station’s Quest airlock on June 24, 2024.
NASA by way of AP/NASA
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NASA by way of AP/NASA
Two NASA astronauts will keep longer on the Global House Station as engineers troubleshoot issues on Boeing’s new area tablet that cropped up at the travel there. NASA on Friday didn’t set a go back date till trying out at the floor was once whole and mentioned the astronauts have been secure. “We’re no longer in any rush to return house,” mentioned NASA’s industrial group program supervisor Steve Stich. Veteran NASA take a look at pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner tablet for the orbiting laboratory on June 5. It was once the primary astronaut release for Boeing after years of delays and setbacks.
The take a look at flight was once anticipated to final per week or so, sufficient time for Wilmore and Williams to try the tablet whilst docked on the station. However issues of the tablet’s propulsion machine, used to move the spacecraft, brought about NASA and Boeing to lengthen the flight house a number of occasions whilst they analyzed the difficulty. In addition they sought after to steer clear of conflicting with spacewalks via station astronauts. However a spacewalk this week was once canceled after water leaked from an astronaut’s spacesuit. The problem hasn’t been resolved and the deliberate spacewalk subsequent week was once postponed.
As Starliner closed in at the area station an afternoon after release, last-minute thruster disasters virtually derailed the docking. 5 of the tablet’s 28 thrusters went down all through docking; all however one thruster was once restarted. Starliner already had one small helium leak when it rocketed into orbit and several other extra leaks sprung up all through the flight. Helium is used to pressurize gas for the thrusters. Boeing mentioned this week that the 2 issues aren’t a priority for the go back travel. In delaying the astronauts’ go back, NASA and Boeing mentioned they wanted extra time to assemble details about the thruster hassle and leaks whilst the tablet was once docked. Each are within the carrier module, a unit hooked up to the tablet that burns up all through reentry.
NASA to start with mentioned the Starliner may just keep docked on the area station for as much as 45 days because of battery limits. However in-flight assessments have proven that restrict can also be prolonged, Stich mentioned. Officers mentioned they gained’t set a go back date whilst they do floor assessments of tablet thrusters within the New Mexico wilderness, which have been anticipated to final a few weeks. They would like to take a look at to duplicate the placement that took place all through docking. “I need to make it very transparent that Butch and Suni don’t seem to be stranded in area,” mentioned Stich, including that Starliner is designed for a challenge of as much as 210 days. Stich mentioned the astronauts may just go back to Earth in Starliner in relation to an area station emergency. After the distance travel fleet retired, NASA became over astronaut rides to non-public corporations. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made 9 taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to trade between SpaceX and Boeing in ferrying crews to and from the distance station.
