NASA 'not quite ready' to bring Boeing Starliner astronauts home

MW NASA 'not quite ready' to bring Boeing Starliner astronauts home

By James Rogers

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams reached the International Space Station on June 6

NASA is unable to say when the space agency will bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home on Boeing Co.'s Starliner spacecraft, as officials continue to resolve issues related to the capsule.

"We don't have a major announcement today relative to a return date," Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew program, said during a press conference Thursday. "We're making great progress, but we're just not quite ready to do that."

Last month NASA said that Starliner would remain docked at the International Space Station to allow for further tests into thruster issues and helium leaks.

Related: Boeing's Starliner launches on historic first crewed flight

Stich explained that NASA and Boeing $(BA)$ have been undertaking ground-based thruster testing at the space agency's White Sands test facility in New Mexico. "What we did see in the thruster is the same kind of thrust degradation that we're seeing on orbit in a number of the thrusters - we're seeing reduced thrust," he said. "Right now, we're in the middle of the teardown of the thruster."

Officials are looking carefully at the thruster's fuel and oxidizer valves, Stich added, noting that they are seeing "a little bit of a bulge" in the oxidizer valve's Teflon seal. "That's matching very closely to what we're seeing in flight," he said. "We're making sure that that seal stays intact, and that's the important part of what's going on with the thruster today."

With regard to the helium leaks, Stich said that while Starliner is docked to the International Space Station, the capsule is not leaking any helium, but that more tests will be conducted this weekend.

Related: NASA astronauts 'confident' in Boeing Starliner's ability to get them home safely

After a series of delays, Starliner launched its historic first crewed flight to the International Space Station on June 5. The capsule arrived at the space station the following day, following last-minute thruster trouble.

The capsule was initially expected to be docked with the ISS for at least eight days before transporting Wilmore and Williams back to earth. A return date of no earlier than June 18 was set, although this was subsequently pushed back to no earlier than June 25.

During a press conference last month, Wilmore and Williams said they are confident in the ability of Starliner to bring them back to Earth in the event of an emergency.

Related: Boeing Starliner crew not stranded in space, says NASA, but no date set for return

Boeing shares are up 3.6% Thursday.

-James Rogers

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July 25, 2024 13:48 ET (17:48 GMT)

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