NASA still hopes Starliner can return astronauts from the International Space Station | Wilnesh News

With NASA astronauts stuck at the International Space Station far longer than planned, the agency’s leadership acknowledged on Wednesday that it might be possible to replace Boeing’s Starliner to return astronauts to Earth.

Still, the Boeing spacecraft remains the primary option for returning crews, officials said.

Officials said the Starliner capsule “Calypso” could return as soon as the end of this month after its long stay at the International Space Station, pending test results of a faulty propulsion system. Starliner has now been in space for 36 days, with the agency and Boeing conducting additional tests in New Mexico before allowing the spacecraft to return.

The mission was the first crewed Starliner, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

NASA Commercial Crew Finance Steve Stich emphasized at the press conference that “the first option today is to return Butch and Suny to Starliner,” adding that currently “we are looking at There’s no reason to turn to the agency’s other transportation option, which would be SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to bring back astronauts.

Stitch acknowledged that the SpaceX capsule could be part of a contingency plan in case Starliner returns empty from the International Space Station, but noted that NASA has not yet “decided whether it needs to do anything different.”

“Certainly we’ve cleaned up some stuff related to Starliner to be ready if we have to use some of it,” Stich said.

“(But) there was really no discussion of sending another dragon to rescue the starliner crew,” Stitch later added.

Boeing and NASA began testing the spacecraft’s thruster technology on July 3 at White Sands, New Mexico, in an effort to replicate a problem that caused up to five of the spacecraft’s Calypso thrusters to shut down while docking with the International Space Station. . The purpose of the ground tests is “to make sure that all the pulses and heat we’re applying don’t cause any damage to the thrusters,” Stich said.

Stich noted that Starliner’s return “at the end of July” is “optimistic” based on completion of testing. Boeing and NASA White Sands teams will inspect the test thrusters next week.

But “so far, we haven’t been able to replicate the temperatures we see in flight,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president of the Starliner program, told a news conference.

“We’re trying to fill in some gaps with this test because… what we’re trying to do is understand if the thrusters are operating (as expected) and then we’ll be able to undock and come back. If the thrusters are somehow damaged, then we What to do? Nappi said.

“We don’t believe our thrusters were damaged, but we wanted to fill in the gaps again and do this test to make sure ourselves,” Nappi added.

Speaking to the media from the International Space Station, both Wilmore and Williams expressed confidence in their return on Starliner.

“We believe the tests we’re doing are what we need to do to get the right answers to give us the data we need to come back,” Wilmore said.

Starliner was once seen as a competitor to SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which has carried out 12 manned flights to the International Space Station in the past four years. However, various setbacks and delays have gradually pushed Starliner into a secondary role for NASA, which plans to have SpaceX and Boeing fly astronauts alternately.

The Starliner crew flight tests are the last important step before NASA gives Boeing the go-ahead for a six-month operational mission starting as early as February.