Astronauts Return To Earth Delayed Until July

NASA announced another delay for the return of two astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The crew reached the ISS via Boeing’s Starliner earlier this month, but their return has been delayed due to issues with the spacecraft.

 NASA said Friday that July is the earliest they might make it back home.

The Starliner spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS just over two weeks ago. 

Some of the issues with the spacecraft include helium leaks and thruster problems.

“Bottom line, the helium leaks are pretty small. NASA says they can tolerate about 100 times what’s currently leaking, had five thrusters fail on the way to the station. Four of them have been reactivated, one remains disabled. It shouldn’t keep them from coming home safely,” retired astronaut Leroy Chiao said.

But it has kept them from returning as scheduled.

NASA declared, “we’re taking a little bit of extra time to work through what we’ve seen and make sure we have all the plans in place to bring the crew home in a nominal situation for the end of mission. So we’re just taking a little more extra time to review all the data and also learn as much as we can while we have the service module in orbit.”

Despite the problems, the atmosphere onboard with all the space station astronauts has been nothing less than jovial.

This is Boeing’s first docking with the ISS after numerous issues and cost overruns, which has led to corporate embarrassment and uncertainty.

Now, there is more of that, as engineers on the ground are working more to learn about these problems that have plagued the journey.

Despite the issues surrounding the Starliner, the two astronauts appear to be taking it all in stride.

NASA said the Starliner is viable to travel home before July in case of an emergency.