Astronauts stranded in space due to multiple issues with Boeing's Starliner — and the window for a return flight is closing

Live Science ^ | 6/24/24 | Ben Turner

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Editor's note: NASA announced on Friday that Starliner's troubleshooting has been extended for a third time, meaning that the astronauts will stay aboard the International Space Station indefinitely until some time in July.

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Two NASA astronauts who rode to orbit on Boeing's Starliner are stranded in space aboard the ISS after engineers discovered numerous issues with the Boeing spacecraft. Teams on the ground are now racing to assess Starliner's status.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 after a week on the ISS, but their stay has been extended for a third time due to the ongoing issues.

...Boeing's Starliner capsule successfully blasted off...on June 5. But during the 25-hour flight, engineers discovered five separate helium leaks to the spacecraft's thruster system.

...to give engineers time to troubleshoot the faults, NASA has announced it will push back the perilous return flight, extending the crew's stay on the space station to at least three weeks.

"We've learned that our helium system is not performing as designed," Mark Nappi, Boeing's Starliner program manager, said at a news conference on June 18. "Albeit manageable, it's still not working like we designed it. So we've got to go figure that out."

...NASA and Boeing engineers assess the vital hardware issues aboard the vessel, including five helium leaks to the system that pressurizes the spacecraft's propulsion system, and five thruster failures to its reaction-control system.

After powering the thrusters up on June 15, engineers found that most of these issues appeared to be at least partially resolved, but their exact causes remain unknown. However, the Harmony module's limited fuel means Starliner can only stay docked for 45 days, so the window for a safe return flight is narrowing.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Meanwhile, Musk has sent manned missions into space. What a Boeing clusterfark.

[nwrep]

Long live DEI.

[HIDEK6]

DEI.

[Sertorius]

This isn’t your daddy’s apollo 13.

[moovova]

Sounds like...if it’s Boeing, they ain’t going.

[Magnum44]

An old aviator adage:

I’d rather be down here wishing i was up there
than up there wishing I was down here...

[iamgalt]

Boeing is in Wa. Is DEI mandatory?

[HYPOCRACY]

“We’ve learned that our helium system is not performing as designed,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager, said at a news conference on June 18.

You mean it wasn’t designed to leak helium?

[MinorityRepublican]

BOEING!

[nwrep]

The boards and executives of these companies have made it voluntarily mandatory. A kind of a self-imposed penance.

[Reno89519]

They are going to have to pay SpaceX to recover the Boeing crew and let that capsule get parked or go down remotely.

[Leaning Right]

Old method: Hire the best people possible.
New method: Hire the most diverse people possible.

We see this in industry, education, medicine, basic research, etc.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Lazamataz]

Write those astronauts off. They are as good as dead.

[Magnum44]

and the window for a return flight is closing

[Ann Archy]

BOEING headquarters are in Chicago.

[catnipman]

if it’s Boeing, they ain’t going ...

[catnipman]

“We’ve learned that our helium system is not performing as designed,”

too bad they didn’t “discover” that BEFORE they stranded their astronauts in space ...

[wardaddy]

I didn’t know that

Always thought it was Seattle area

[38special]

Fake news. The whole month of July is a window for return.

[Delta 21]

Thats what NASA will say cause it aint their asses stuck in outer space. Elon will have a coupla rescue capsules up there in less than 24 hours. They are setting Musk up for victory and Boeing up for what it deserves.