Boeing Delays Starliner's Return To Earth Again: Astronauts Stuck At International Space Station As NASA Says 'We Are Taking Our Time'

Astronauts aboard Boeing Co‘s BA Starliner spacecraft will take more time than initially estimated to return to Earth from the International Space Station, federal agency NASA said on Friday.

What Happened: Most recently, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams aboard Starliner were set to return from the International Space Station on June 26, Wednesday, after being postponed several times from its first estimated date of June 14. However, it has been postponed yet again. While the new date for return has not been ascertained, the mission managers are evaluating return opportunities after the station’s two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2, the agency said.

"We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.”

Starliner took off from Earth on its inaugural manned mission to the ISS on June 5. The spacecraft is functioning well in orbit while being docked to the space station, Stich said while adding that the agency will use the extra time before returning to Earth for “some critical station activities” and “gaining valuable insight” into the system upgrades required for future missions.

Though the crew is not pressed for time to return owing to ample supplies in orbit, the spacecraft is cleared for return in case of an emergency at the station that requires the crew to leave, NASA added.

Why It Matters: Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has been faced with several delays since the start. The spacecraft was supposed to have its first uncrewed test flight in 2015 which was delayed up to 2019. The spacecraft then failed to achieve its intended orbit. In 2022, the spacecraft completed its first successful uncrewed flight to the International Space Station.

If the ongoing crewed flight test is successful, Boeing will become the next private company to shuttle astronauts to and from the ISS for NASA, like Elon Musk‘s SpaceX.

NASA awarded both Boeing and SpaceX contracts to enable transportation to and from the ISS after retiring its space shuttle. SpaceX sent its first crewed mission to the ISS in 2020 on its Dragon spacecraft and has since then undertaken multiple missions, overtaking its traditional rival.

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