NASA has delayed the return of two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) for the third time, raising concerns the crew could be ‘stranded.’
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were initially scheduled for a nine-day stay, which was pushed back twice this month and now sits at an undetermined date.
The extended stay is to allow more time for review of technical issues encountered by the capsule as it traveled to the ISS, which included thruster failures and leaking valves, Boeing said in a statement.
Experts said that NASA could be forced to launch a rescue mission, and could tap Elon Musk’s SpaceX to carry it out.
Katsuo Kurabayashi, professor of aerospace engineering at New York University said: ‘Given the current situation with the Starliner, it is possible that NASA could decide to use an alternative spacecraft, like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, to bring the astronauts home safely.
As far as I can tell at this point, the recent delay of the mission to July alone shouldn’t raise serious concerns leading to another highly challenging rescue mission or the future abandonment of Starliner-based missions.
‘But if they start talking about a rescue mission by chance, it would indicate that there are some serious, potentially life-threatening hardware defects found with Starliner.’
The astronauts’ return was first pushed backed to June 14 and last week it was rescheduled for June 26.
NASA indicated that its staff was evaluating return dates after the station’s two planned space walks on June 24 and July 2 – hoping to bring the two astronauts back to Earth no later than early July.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said: ‘We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process.
‘We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.
Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.’
Starliner took off at on June 5 at 10:52am ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida last week with the same leak that forced a scrub in May.
The capsule, however, launched with a known leak that was reportedly no larger than a shirt button and quite thin.
Stich said last month that he was confident 27 out of these 28 thrusters were working properly, free of leaks or other issues.
However, Starliner encountered five failures of its 28 maneuvering thrusters, five leaks of helium gas meant to pressurize those thrusters and a slow-moving propellant valve that signaled unfixed past issues since launching.
When Starliner arrived in the space station’s vicinity to dock on June 6, the five thruster failures prevented a close approach by the spacecraft until Boeing made a fix.
It rewrote software and tweaked some procedures to revive four of them and proceed with a docking.
Starliner’s undocking and return to Earth represent the spacecraft’s most complicated phases of its test mission.
Boeing has spent $1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond its $4.5-billion NASA development contract.
NASA officials have said they want to better understand the cause of the thruster failures, valve issue and helium leaks before Starliner begins its return.
While just one thruster remains dead in Starliner’s current flight, Boeing encountered four thruster problems during the capsule’s uncrewed return from space in 2022.
The leak that forced a scrub in May raised concerns among a NASA contractor who urged the space agency to ‘re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens.’
Erin Faville, president of ValveTech, raised concerns about this month’s launch, telling DailyMail.com: ‘I warned. I will choose to let it play out.’
While both NASA and Boeing did not seem concerned about the initial leak, Mike Gruntman, professor of astronautics at the University of Southern California, suggested that the problems stemmed from manufacturing issues.
‘Multiple similar issues – helium leaks – with seemingly similar components, as reported in the press, point to a systemic problem with design or workmanship or testing or system engineering or a combination thereof,’ he said.
Gruntman also said that ‘it is more likely that SpaceX would be able to provide an additional launch in the foreseeable future to bring the astronauts back.’
Starliner’s issues follow a slew of problems plaguing Boeing commercial planes.
A Boeing plane experienced a rare Dutch roll at 32,000 feet mid-flight last month, which resulted in the aircraft being taken out of service.
The Southwest Airlines flight, Southwest Flight 746, was flying 175 passengers from Phoenix to Oakland on May 25 when it experienced the terrifying Dutch roll.
A Dutch roll is the name given to the combination of a yawing motion when the tail slides and the plane rocks from wingtip to wingtip. It is said to mimic the movement of a Dutch ice skater.
In the same month, Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 experienced fatal ‘turbulence’ that involved proximity to tropical thunderstorms.
The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left London’s Heathrow airport at 10:17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.
However, the turbulence caused several injuries and one death – it is unclear of the Boeing jet experienced an issue or it was a natural event.
And just last week, an Air Canada Boeing plane bursts into flames seconds after take-off.
Source: Daily Mail