Two NASA astronauts, both Navy veterans, could be stuck in space until 2025
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are currently on the International Space Station waiting for NASA to resolve issues with the Boeing Starliner.
Nicholas Slayton
Posted on Aug 11, 2024 6:41 PM EDT
It was meant to be an eight-day mission. It might stretch well into next year.
This week NASA said that the space agency remains split on how to bring two astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station, where they have been for two months. The two astronauts on the Boeing Starliner mission, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, are both Navy veterans with extensive experience piloting aircraft. They went up to the ISS in June on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the ship’s first crewed launch. They are still on the station, waiting for NASA to figure out how to get them down.
“We don’t just have to bring a crew back on Starliner, for example. We could bring them back on another vehicle,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during the Aug. 7 press conference.
The Boeing Starliner mission carried Williams and Wilmore to space on June 5. It’s part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Capsule program. However, their Starliner capsule has had several issues. Its original launch date was pushed back twice, once because of an issue with an oxygen valve. Once in space, NASA discovered four helium leaks as well as several thrusters failing. NASA and Boeing have said the Starliner capsule is safe to travel in, but the exact issue behind its troubles hasn’t been determined and Williams and Wilmore remain on the ISS.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/nasa-astronauts-veterans-starliner-stuck/
