Two astronauts stranded in space as NASA rushes to fix problems with spacecraft

23 June 2024 , 23:45

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Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are stuck on the International Space Station (Image: Getty Images)

Two astronauts are stuck in space after engineers delayed their return for a second time.

Veteran duo Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 62 and Suni Williams, 58, shot to orbit on Boeing’s Starliner earlier this month. They were initially due to return to Earth on June 13, after spending a week at the International Space Station.

But now they will fly home no sooner than Wednesday week as engineers want more time to fix numerous issues with the Starliner craft. On Friday, NASA said it was taking longer than expected to review the thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that caused the first delay.

Williams touring the toilets on the ISS (Mirror Screen Grab)

The ISS mission was Boeing’s first crewed space launch after more than a decade of planning, during which two launches had to be aborted at late notice. Steve Stich, the commercial crew programme manager at NASA, said: “We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process.

The Starliner docked to the ISS (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Tech)

“We are letting the data drive our decision-making [over] the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.” Five of the Starliner’s thrusters were shut down by its computers as it neared the space station and four had to be switched back on, while its propulsion system has suffered several minor leaks.

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Wilmore and Williams, who are both former US navy test pilots, are said not to be in a hurry to leave the station because it is well stocked with supplies. NASA added that the “station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August” saying the faults are not critical and such issues often arise.

Lucy Thornton