EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
A series of problems with the new Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft delayed their return from the International Space Station.
Two NASA-trained astronauts testing the new Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft were forced to remain aboard the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth at a distance of about 400 km (250 mi) after experiencing technical difficulties with their spacecraft.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 after their Boeing Starliner began its first crewed flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5. Launching on June 5th. A previous launch attempt was aborted on June 1 just moments before takeoff due to a ground control computer performance problem.
During the 25-hour flight to the International Space Station, the probe experienced several helium leaks and a malfunctioning thruster. Then, when the Starliner arrived on June 6 and attempted to dock with the ISS, another four of the 28 thrusters failed, delaying the ship’s arrival.
According to a Boeing spokesman, four of the five jets that previously failed are now operating normally. “This means that only one jet out of 27 is currently offline. This is not a problem for the return mission,” the spokeswoman added.
Who are the two astronauts stranded in space?
Sunita “Suni” Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer who joined NASA in 1998. Williams made her first spaceflight to the ISS to service the electricity-generating solar panels on Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-116) in December 2006, when she was a flight engineer. Her second mission in May 2012 as a flight engineer was on Expedition 32 to the ISS to test a new microsatellite deployment system. After completing more missions, Williams was one of the first astronauts selected for training in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in 2015.
Williams has spent a total of 322 days in space so far and is best known for her missions aboard the ISS, where she set records for the longest space flight by a woman (195 days) and is the former record holder for seven spacewalks by a female astronaut. This was broken only by Peggy Whitson in 2017. Whitson has now completed 10 spacewalks.
Williams has received several awards, including the Legion of Merit, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore flew Space Shuttle Atlantis to deliver components to the ISS in November 2009 and served as ISS Commander from November 2014 to March 2015.
Wilmore’s first space flight took place aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) in November 2009 as part of a mission to deliver spare parts to the ISS. He served as the flight engineer on Expedition 41 in May 2014 to study the effects on the body and plant growth during weightlessness. He was also the commander of Expedition 42 to study how space affects immune cells and observed pollution in Earth’s atmosphere in 2014.
Wilmore also received numerous awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the NASA Space Flight Medal.
What is Boeing doing with stranded astronauts?
NASA and Boeing are using the time the astronauts spent aboard the ISS to further assess the problems with the thrusters that disrupted the Starliner’s initial attempt to dock with the ISS on June 6.
Steven Hirshorn, NASA’s chief flight engineer, took to his LinkedIn page to clarify some of the issues on the Starliner. “The problems that are being reported on the Starliner, namely the thruster reaction and the helium leaks in the propulsion system, are all located on the spacecraft’s service module,” he explained. “When the crew leaves the ISS and goes out of orbit, the service module is jettisoned and burns up in the atmosphere on reentry. Thus, helium systems and thrusters will not return to Earth for failure analysis. They are gone. The only way to get a sense of what might be going on there is through space.”
When will the stranded astronauts return to Earth?
According to NASA, the Starliner can be attached to the ISS for up to 45 days, or a maximum of 72 days using the backup system.
Last week, NASA said it was aiming for a return sometime in early July. NASA said mission teams on the ISS needed additional time to thoroughly investigate problems with the propulsion system.
“We are taking our time and following the mission management team’s standard process,” Steve Stich said in a statement earlier this week. “We let the data guide our decision-making in relation to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance that we observed during rendezvous and docking.”