NASA astronauts voice confidence that Boeing Starliner will bring them home
The first two astronauts to fly Boeing's Starliner capsule said from the International Space Station on Wednesday (July 10) that they were confident in the spacecraft's ability to return them home whenever the company and NASA fix an array of thruster issues that have kept them in space far longer than expected.
Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore, both veteran NASA astronauts and former US Navy test pilots, were launched aboard Starliner from Florida on June 5 and docked the next day at the ISS, where they were initially scheduled to spend roughly eight days.
A series of issues with Starliner's propulsion system has extended their mission indefinitely. Five of Starliner's 28 maneuvering thrusters went dead during its 24-hour trek to the station, a propellant valve failed to properly close and there have been five leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the thrusters.
The current test mission is Boeing's final step before the spacecraft can clinch NASA certification for routine astronaut flights and become the second U.S. orbital capsule alongside SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which has dominated the nascent human spaceflight market amid Starliner's development delays.
REUTERS VIDEO
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