The recent headlines about the commercial Starliner crew capsule being stranded at the International Space Station are not entirely accurate. NASA and Boeing officials clarified on Friday that they need more time to analyze data before formally clearing the spacecraft for undocking and reentry.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were scheduled to spend at least eight days at the space station, but due to ongoing issues with the Starliner propulsion system, they will now remain on the station for at least a few more weeks. The engineers are conducting thruster tests to better understand the problems with the spacecraft's propulsion system in orbit.
The original plan was to keep the Starliner spacecraft docked at the space station for at least eight days, but the test flight is now likely to last at least a month and a half, and possibly longer, as engineers address helium leaks and thruster glitches on the service module.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, NASA officials are also considering extending the mission duration beyond the initially certified 45-day limit for the spacecraft's batteries, as they have been performing well.
The delays have led to multiple changes in the scheduled reentry and landing of the Starliner spacecraft, with NASA and Boeing officials continuously evaluating the readiness of the spacecraft for the journey back to Earth.
However, it's important to note that NASA officials have emphasized that astronauts Wilmore and Williams are not stranded in space and are safe on the space station. They also made it clear that there are no immediate plans to bring the astronauts home on a different spacecraft despite having multiple crew vehicles available.
The presence of multiple crew spacecraft at the space station, including SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Russia's Soyuz, provides NASA with contingency plans, but the focus remains on returning the astronauts on the Starliner spacecraft.
It's been highlighted that there should be more frequent interaction with reporters from NASA officials to provide timely and detailed updates on the Starliner test flight, as the written updates can sometimes lack context and thorough information.
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In terms of technical details, the main reason for keeping the spacecraft at the station for the next few weeks is to test a Starliner thruster on the ground. During the spacecraft's approach to the station, the control software identified five of Starliner's 28 reaction control system thrusters as unusable.
While four of the five control jets have been successfully tested and cleared for use for the remainder of the mission, engineers need to verify the full thrust capability of these small rocket engines and determine the cause of the problems with the five thrusters.
To achieve this, an identical thruster will be test-fired at a NASA facility in New Mexico to simulate the exact sequence of firings as the spacecraft approached the space station and the expected firing sequence during undocking and reentry. This thorough testing process is expected to take a couple of weeks before the engineers can proceed with the final decision regarding the spacecraft's reentry and landing under nominal conditions.
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