![In this NASA-provided photo, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore (center) pose in spacesuits with Expedition 71 flight engineer Mike Barratt (left) and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson aboard the Quest airlock aboard the International Space Station on June 24, 2024.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7339x5504+459+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff8%2Fee%2Ff336fa9a4da5b37b255c8ce92816%2Fap24180573043757.jpg)
Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore (center) pose with NASA astronauts Expedition 71 flight engineers Mike Barrett (left) and Tracy Dyson in their spacesuits in the Quest airlock aboard the International Space Station on June 24, 2024.
NASA via AP/NASA
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NASA via AP/NASA
Two NASA astronauts will remain aboard the International Space Station longer as engineers work out a problem with Boeing's new space capsule that arose on the International Space Station.
NASA hasn't set a return date until Friday when ground tests are complete and the astronauts are safe, it said.
“We’re in no rush to get home,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.
Veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams launched into the orbital laboratory aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule on June 5. It was Boeing's first astronaut launch after years of delays and frustrations.
The test flight was expected to last about a week, enough time for Wilmore and Williams to check out the capsule while it was docked at the station. But problems with the capsule propulsion system used to pilot the spacecraft led NASA and Boeing to postpone the return flight several times while they analyzed the problem.
They also wanted to avoid collisions with astronauts' spacewalks. But this week's spacewalk was canceled after water leaked from an astronaut's spacesuit. The problem was not resolved, and a spacewalk planned for next week was postponed.
As the Starliner approached the space station a day after launch, docking almost failed due to a last-minute thruster failure. Five of the capsule's 28 thrusters crashed during docking. All but one thruster restarted.
The Starliner already had one small helium leak when it entered orbit and had several more leaks during the flight. Helium is used to pressurize the fuel for the thrusters. Boeing said this week that neither issue would be a problem for the return trip.
In delaying the astronauts’ return, NASA and Boeing said they needed more time to gather information about the propulsion problems and leaks while the capsule was docked. Both are in the service module, a device attached to the capsule that burns up during reentry.
NASA initially said Starliner could remain docked to the space station for up to 45 days due to battery limitations, but in-flight tests showed that limit could be extended, Stich said.
Officials said they would not set a return date pending ground testing of the capsule thruster in the New Mexico desert. The trial was expected to last several weeks. They are trying to recreate what happened during docking.
“I want to make it clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space,” Stich said, adding that the Starliner is designed for missions of up to 210 days.
Stich said that if an emergency occurs on the space station, astronauts can return to Earth aboard the Starliner.
After the space shuttle retired, NASA turned over the astronaut rides to the private sector. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine taxi flights for NASA since 2020. NASA plans to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing to shuttle crews to and from the space station.