Do they take a chance and send them home soon in Boeing’s Starliner? Or wait and bring them back next year with SpaceX?
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been up there since early June, their planned eight-day mission at the two-month mark and possibly surpassing eight months.
Testing continues, with Boeing expressing confidence in its spacecraft but NASA divided. A decision is expected next week.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH BOEING’S STARLINER?
This is Boeing’s first time launching astronauts, after flying a pair of empty Starliners that suffered software and other issues. Even before Wilmore and Williams blasted off June 5, their capsule sprang a leak in propulsion-related plumbing. Boeing and NASA judged the small helium leak to be stable and isolated, and proceeded with the test flight. But as Starliner approached the space station the next day, four more leaks erupted. Five thrusters also failed.
The capsule managed to dock safely, and four of the thrusters ultimately worked. But engineers scrambled, conducting thruster test-firings on the ground and in space. After two months, there’s still no root cause for the thruster malfunctions. All but one of the 28 thrusters seem OK, but the fear is that if too many conk out again, the crew’s safety could be jeopardized. The thrusters are needed at flight’s end to keep the capsule in the right position for the critical deorbit burn.
ARE THE TWO ASTRONAUTS STRANDED?
NASA bristles at suggestions that Wilmore and Williams are stranded or stuck. NASA has stressed from the get-go that in an emergency at the space station — like a fire or decompression — Starliner could still be used by the pair as a lifeboat to leave. A former NASA executive said the astronauts are “kind of stuck,” although certainly not stranded. They’re safe aboard the space station with plenty of supplies and work to do, said Scott Hubbard.
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