NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who flew to the International Space Station last year aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, expressed their absolute faith in being brought back to Earth safely by the capsule despite facing technical issues that have postponed their journey back to Earth indefinitely.
Speaking during a press briefing broadcast from the ISS, veteran astronaut Wilmore said Starliner was “truly impressive,” adding the crew was confident and while experiencing problems on the way to the station they are confident in the trip home. He told mission control during the automated sequence that controls were degraded; it wasn’t until he took manual control as the spacecraft approached the ISS that the vehicle began to feel like thrust was degraded, yet it continued to perform well.
The other veteran astronaut, Williams, also agreed: “I have a good feeling deep in my heart of hearts that the spacecraft is going to take us home, no problem.”
The mission has been prolonged due to several thrust breakdowns and helium leaks before all problems are subject to NASA and Boeing review. In particular, five reaction control thrusters were used in making the vehicle’s attitude fail during the approach to ISS. Although that fifth one did eventually come back online, NASA opted to not take a chance and use it for the return journey. Furthermore, the vehicle has undergone, thus far, five helium leaks inside its propulsion system; however, the space agency has stated that there is enough helium available for the remainder of the mission.
NASA commercial crew program overseer Steve Stich said, “If there were no major hiccups on the ground, that the crew would potentially be back on Earth by the end of July.” But Stich says the data will drive the decision. “We’ll just follow the data each step at a time, and then at the right time, figure out when the right undock opportunity is.”
This shall be Starliner’s first flight involving humans and is seen as an important test before certification is given by NASA for the spacecraft to begin routine missions. The other vehicle in NASA’s commercial crew program, the SpaceX-developed Dragon capsule, has also been incident-free, flying astronauts to and from the orbital lab since 20