Today, August 21, 2024, marks the 78th day that NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams will spend marooned in space, precisely on the International Space Station (ISS), following a test mission that went way off its course.
The two lifted off at 10.52 am ET on June 5 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, becoming the first humans to launch into orbit aboard the Boeing Starliner, embarking on a 25-hour flight to the ISS. The launch was also meant to mark the beginning of the NASA-Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT).
Wilmore (61) and Williams (58) were also the first to launch on an Atlas V rocket, and were slated to conduct a series of flight test objectives, including manually flying the Starliner, which also carried 345 kg of cargo. It was decided that following a successful CFT, Boeing and NASA would continue working to certify Starliner for long-duration missions to the ISS.
“This crew flight test represents the beginning of a new era of space exploration as we watch astronauts Wilmore and Williams put Boeing’s Starliner through its paces on the way to the International Space Station,” said Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Ted Colbert in a statement. “This is a great start. We look forward to getting the astronauts safely to the space station and back home,” he added.
However, technical problems surfaced from the launch itself, hampering the mission, especially making the timely return of the crew uncertain. Instead of steering back to Earth on June 14 as previously planned, they remain ‘stranded’ on the ISS, as both NASA and Boeing evaluate the technical problems surrounding the mission and the crew’s safe return home.
Thrust issues and leaks
The Starliner launched as per schedule on June 5, even as a small leak of helium gas appeared on board.
The light gas is used to push propellant or fuel into the thruster/propulsion systems, which are used by mission crews to manoeuvre a spacecraft through space, and slowing it down during re-entry into the atmosphere. The leak, which appeared to be extremely small, got engineers to believe that it would not affect the mission, and accordingly, the launch went as planned.
However, four more helium leaks developed during the mission and five of the spacecraft’s 28 manoeuvring thrusters shut during approach to the ISS, four of which were restarted. The Starliner did dock at the space station, and the two astronauts shifted ship. There was, however, a looming fear that the thrusters may fail to fire during the spacecraft’s return trip, potentially leaving the crew stranded in space indefinitely. That’s exactly what happened.
Besides the issues of helium leaks and thruster failures, was the shutdown of onboard power and systems, compromising crew and mission safety. Without proper functioning thrusters and on-board controls, the ability to navigate the spacecraft during re-entry could be impacted. Now, even as NASA and Boeing scramble to get to the bottom of this perplexity, for the two seasoned astronauts, it is going to be a long wait.
NASA had initially stated in a blog post that the leaks posed no safety risk to the astronauts. “Only seven hours of free-flight time is needed to perform a normal end of mission, and Starliner currently has enough helium left in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking,” it had said.
According to the latest update from the US space agency, data from recent tests on the ground and in space are being analysed to ensure reliability of the Starliner’s propulsion system. NASA had earlier also stressed that the astronauts were not stranded and that Boeing’s space vehicle was certified to return to Earth in the event of an emergency on the ISS.
Meanwhile, NASA went on to push the return of Wilmore and Williams to July, following it by further postponing the landing date several times in order for engineers to better understand and fix the manoeuvring thruster and helium leak issues.
Their eventual departure from the space station, however, could be possible only next year - widely speculated to be sometime in the month of February. This would mean that the two astronauts would be spending eight whole months in the ISS, from the earlier mere eight days.
Space travel is an all-encompassing arena. There are neither borders nor limits in space, only newer boundaries to be discovered and marked by a rare, brave community of astronauts, who test its frontiers and expand our universal horizon. Their safety matters!