NASA insists Boeing Starliner crew 'not stranded' on ISS

AFP | Washington, United States

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The first astronauts to fly Boeing's troubled Starliner are definitely not "stranded" at the International Space Station, NASA insisted Friday despite having no clear timeframe for bringing them home.

In an unusually defensive press call, officials attempted to put a positive spin on where things currently stood after weeks of negative headlines due to the spaceship's delayed return.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off on June 5 following years of delays and safety scares affecting Starliner, as well as two aborted launch attempts that came as astronauts were strapped in and ready to go.

They docked the following day for what was meant to be roughly a week-long stay, but their return has been pushed back multiple times because of thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that came to light during the journey.

"Butch and Suni are not stranded in space," declared Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager.

He added the pair were "enjoying their time on the space station" and "our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time."

Before that can happen, however, ground teams need to run more testing to better understand the root causes.

It was known there was one helium leak affecting Starliner before the launch, but more leaks emerged during the flight.

While non-combustible, helium provides pressure to the propulsion system.

Separately, some of Starliner's thrusters that provide fine maneuvering initially failed to kick in, delaying docking.

Engineers are not sure why Starliner's computer "deselected" these thrusters, though they were able to restart all but one of them.