The Starliner, which launched into space with two astronauts aboard on June 5, does not yet have an official return date, NASA and Boeing said in a press conference on Thursday.
Originally slated for a roughly eight-day mission, the Starliner has now been in space for seven weeks, where it has been docked at the International Space Station (ISS) the majority of the time with veteran NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
“We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date,” said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich. “We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.”
Starliner’s return to Earth has been repeatedly delayed since its initial planned reentry about a week after launch. It was then pushed to no earlier than June 18, then June 22, then June 25, then late July.
Now, Starliner and its crew aren’t expected back until August at the earliest.
“Our focus today…is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” said Stich. “I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the fight rationale to make sure we can come home safely and that’s our primary focus right now.”
Last Starliner update:Starliner astronauts are ‘not complaining’ about longer stay in space
Issues with Starliner delay return
Boeing and NASA have done continuous testing on the malfunctioning thrusters that caused issues during the trip to ISS. The propulsion system was tested in White Sands, New Mexico to identify the cause of the issues and further analysis of the findings will be done this weekend, said Stich.
He also said that a necessary NASA review won’t happen until the first week of August, and any plans to return to Earth would have to take shape after the completion of said review.
Boeing VP regrets calling trip an eight-day mission
At the last Starliner press conference, officials tried to clarify reports that the astronauts were “stranded,” “trapped” or “stuck” at the space station.
They said the astronauts, who are at ISS living with the rest of the onboard crew, are “comfortable” and have supplies. Mark Nappi, Vice President and Program Manager of the Commercial Crew Program at Boeing said he wished the team had been clearer in their messaging on how loose the timeline was from the beginning.
“I think the only thing we’d do differently… is we would not have been so empathic about an eight-day mission,” said Nappi. “We kept saying ‘eight-day minimum mission,’ I think we all knew it was going to go longer than that … it’s my regret that we didn’t just say ‘we’re gonna stay up there until we get everything done we want to go do.'”
NASA does have contingency options for returning Butch and Sunni to Earth, Stich said, but right now the focus is on finishing up the tasks necessary to do so on Starliner.
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