2024-07-28 09:42:00
For almost two months, two NASA astronauts have been stuck on the ISS. This is because Boeing’s “Starliner” is still not operational.
Actually, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to stay on the International Space Station (ISS) for about a week. The “Starliner” from Boeing had transported the two NASA astronauts there – and was also supposed to bring them back to Earth. However, that has not happened yet.
Now, the mission of the Americans on the ISS has already been extended by almost two months – with an uncertain end. There is still no fixed return date, as NASA stated at a press conference on Thursday. NASA manager Steve Stich explained that a series of tests must be conducted before a possible launch of the “Starliner.”
On Saturday evening, NASA announced on the platform X that the engines had been tested. The nozzles were ignited for short bursts to provide data for system analysis. This data is expected to be evaluated in the coming days, according to NASA.
However, it is possible that the astronauts will remain aboard the ISS throughout August, as Stich had explained. The plan is still to bring them back to Earth with the “Starliner,” but there are also alternative options. “The crew understands all of this; they are absorbing all this information and seem to be in good spirits,” said Mark Nappi from aerospace company Boeing, which developed and built the “Starliner” for NASA.
The “Starliner” is a partially reusable spacecraft that consists of a crew capsule approximately three meters tall and a service module, and unlike Elon Musk’s SpaceX “Crew Dragon,” it lands on solid ground rather than on water.
The spacecraft embarked on its first manned test flight from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida in early June after years of delays. The test flight had been postponed multiple times due to various technical problems with the spacecraft and rocket – and at the human outpost, approximately 400 kilometers above Earth, the crisis-plagued spacecraft was only able to dock on the second attempt after experiencing issues with its engines.