Astronauts Sunita Williams and Buchvilmore have been stranded in space since June 6. The world is hoping for their return to Earth soon. However, NASA says they may still have to spend the next few days in space in uncertainty. The US space agency said NASA may take a final decision on Saturday about bringing Sunita Williams back on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft or SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
“NASA’s decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts on board is expected no earlier than Aug. 24 (Saturday) at the conclusion of an agency-level review,” the space agency said in a statement.
Williams and Wilmore flew from Earth to spend eight days on the International Space Station (ISS). Their journey has spanned more than two months in space. Both became the first people to fly aboard the Starliner.
Why are both of them stuck?
As soon as the Starliner reached the orbiting laboratory, the spacecraft faced many technical problems. Many thrusters failed. There was a helium leak in the propulsion system. Engineers were able to fix four out of five faulty thrusters. Let us tell you that there are 28 thrusters on the Starliner. Despite this, it is not ready for a successful de-orbit on Earth.
Boeing declared the Starliner safe, but NASA officials disagreed. If the US space agency deems the Starliner unfit for travel on Saturday, it will be removed from the orbiting lab without a crew.
Williams and Wilmore will then return aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule in February 2025, as NASA has delayed the launch of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the ISS until September 24.
Boeing launched its first flight on June 5 after several setbacks over several years. Together with SpaceX, the company signed a contract with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in 2014 to fly missions to and from the space station. Its first uncrewed flight mission in 2019 did not go as planned. The mission is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has been sending astronauts to space on its Falcon 9 rocket since 2020. It has made about 12 flights to the space station so far. Boeing has invested more than $1.5 billion in its Starliner program.