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Technical glitch on Starliner traps NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in space

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, NASA astronauts who reached the ISS on June 6 are stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) due to ongoing issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft which is responsible to take them back to Earth. They were suppose to return after 8-days mission.

Edited By: Saumya Nigam @snigam04 New Delhi Published on: June 27, 2024 8:23 IST
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore
Image Source : FILE Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are still stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) as engineers continue to fix the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that will take them back to Earth. Originally slated to spend eight days on the orbiting space laboratory, the astronauts reached the ISS on June 6, but the stay was extended due to technical concerns.

Twenty days later, NASA and Boeing leadership are still adjusting the return to Earth of the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft which suffered a small helium system leak on its way.

According to a Boeing spokesperson, four of the five thrusters that were previously shutting down are operating normally.

India Tv - Technical glitch, Starliner, NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore in space

Image Source : FILETechnical glitch on Starliner traps NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in space

"This means only one thruster out of 27 is currently offline. This does not present an issue for the return mission," the spokesperson stated further.

According to Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme, "we are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process".

"We are letting the data drive our decision-making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking," Stich said in a statement.

According to the US space agency, the spacecraft requires seven hours to perform a normal end-of-mission and it "currently has enough helium left in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking".

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Inputs from IANS

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