Sunita Williams May Have to Stay in Space For 3 More Months. What NASA is Planning Next?

Washington: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her crewmate Butch Wilmore will stay longer at International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot problems on Boeing's new space capsule that cropped up on trip re.

NASA on Friday announced that a return date would not be set until ground testing was finished, assuring that astronauts were safe.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program said, “We're not in any rush to come home.”

Veteran NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule for orbiting laboratory on June 5, marking Boeing's first astronaut launch for Boeing after years of delays and setbacks.

test flight was supposed to last about a week, giving Wilmore and Williams enough time to check out capsule while it was docked at station. However, problems with capsule's propulsion system, used to maneuver spacecraft, prompted NASA and Boeing to delay flight home several times while analysing trouble.

y also wanted to avoid conflicting with spacewalks by station astronauts. But a spacewalk this week was canceled because of a water leak in an astronaut's spacesuit. issue hasn't been resolved, so spacewalk planned for next week was also postponed.

As Starliner closed in on space station a day after launch, last-minute thruster failures almost derailed docking. Five of capsule's 28 thrusters failed during docking; all but one thruster was restarted.

Starliner h alrey experienced a small helium leak when it launched into orbit, and during flight, several more leaks occurred. Helium is used to pressurize fuel for thrusters. Boeing said this week that se problems aren't a concern for return trip.

NASA and Boeing said by delaying astronauts' return, y would get more time to gar information about thruster issues and leaks while capsule was docked. Both are in service module, a unit attached to capsule that burns up during reentry.

Initially, NASA said Starliner could stay docked at space station for up to 45 days due to battery limits. But Stich said that in-flight tests have shown that this limit can be extended.

Officials said y won't set a return date while y do ground tests of capsule thrusters in New Mexico desert, which are expected to last a few weeks. y want to try to replicate what happened during docking.

Stich said, “I want to make it very clear that Butch and Sunita are not stranded in space, Starliner is designed for missions lasting up to 210 days.” 

Stich mentioned that astronauts could return to Earth in Starliner if re were an emergency on space station.

(Inputs from AP)