Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will not return to Earth on June 26, 2024, as previously announced. Worse, this time, NASA no longer puts forward any date.
Third postponement for the separation between the Starliner capsule and the international space station (ISS)! This time, on an undetermined date. The Boeing vessel should not leave its home port before July 2, 2024, NASA simply announced in a press release on Friday June 21, 2024.
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had traveled on board, were scheduled to leave the ISS on June 26. But they will play overtime in space. A spacesuit exit is planned for July 2, 2024, and it has priority in the ISS program. This additional time will allow NASA personnel to assess the damage to the capsule in a space environment. Steve Stich, the person responsible at NASA for manned flights entrusted to private companies, was cautious: “Our decision will depend on the data collected on helium leaks and performance problems of the thrusters identified at docking, and on repairs to be made.”
The discovery of helium leaks had already caused numerous postponements of takeoff, which finally took place on June 5, 2024. Then defective thrusters delayed the docking of the capsule to the ISS the next day. The long-running soap opera continues for the Boeing ship…
