Two NASA astronauts won’t be returning back from the International Space Station (ISS) for an additional four days, the latest in a series of delays that has marred the Starliner program for years. NASA and Boeing pushed back the undocking of the Starliner spacecraft for a second time, now targeting June 26 to return the Crew Flight Test mission from the ISS. “We want to give our teams a little bit more time to look at the data, do some analysis and make sure they’re really ready to come home,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Boeing’s atop United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The at the orbiting space station, which was marked by a number of technical issues. Five of the spacecraft thrusters failed during its approach, and four were subsequently recovered.
“The rendezvous was a little bit more demanding on the propulsion system,” Stich said. “In other words, it fired thrusters a little bit more frequently, and it fired them in a little bit more succession, and that caused a little extra heating.” Starliner also developed , one of which had been identified prior to its launch.
The engineering teams now believe the leaks may be related to the activity of the thrusters. Stich reassured reporters that in the past nine days since Starliner docked to the ISS, the leak rates have gone down. Helium is used in the spacecraft’s.