They have been stranded in space since June 5.
NASA has provided an update on two of its astronauts who have been stranded in space for 70 days.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams left Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5 aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft for what should have been a simple eight day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
But during the journey to the ISS, two helium leaks were identified on the Boeing Starliner capsule. After eventually docking at the space station on June 6, after dealing with issues with the capsule’s thrusters, two further helium leaks were detected on Starliner.
The return for the astronauts was then adjusted to July
Engineers have been working to solve problems such as helium leaks and propellant valve failures to try and get thet spacecraft going again, but to no avail.
This has meant Wilmore and Williams have been stranded in space for more than two months.
The space agency warned last week that it could be as late as next year until they can return to Earth, and that the astronauts may have to wait until another mission arrives at the ISS in February 2025.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said last week: “We have been working with SpaceX to ensure they are ready to respond with Crew-9 as a contingency.
“We have not formally committed to this path, but we wanted to ensure we had all that flexibility in place.
“Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open.
“I think Butch and Suni are ready to do whatever we need them to do.”
In their latest update yesterday (August 14), NASA said it was pushing back the deadline to decide what to do with the astronauts. The agency had initially said it would make a decision in mid-August, but officials told reporters that it will now be the last week of the month.
There are concerns over whether Starliner be about to carry out a “successful deorbit burn”, which is the process of the spacecraft using its retrorockets to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
The space agency said: “That’s why we’re looking so closely at the thruster jets and even thinking about how the larger thrusters work.”
A February 2025 return on a Space X Dragon Ship due to set off for the ISS in September is still the most likely solution, but this poses its own problems.
Wilmore and Williams don’t have the right spacesuits for this spacecraft, so may have to make the journey unsuited.
NASA added that Starline could still be used in case of an emergency.
There are concerns about the impact such a long time on space is having on the two astronauts, but NASA’s chief astronaut Joe Acaba has said they appear to be “doing fine” at the moment.
He said that the pair “embark on missions fully aware of the various scenarios and outcomes that may become our realities.”
“This mission was a test flight… they knew this mission might not be perfect,” he said.
“Human space flight is inherently risky, and as astronauts, we accept that as part of the job.”
“In my office right now I can watch them working on the ISS,” Acaba added. “But we are human. And this is hard on crew members and their families, and we take that into account.”
