NASA astronauts ‘stranded’ in space due to Boeing Starliner malfunction, as experts say, SpaceX could conduct rescue mission

NASA has delayed the return of two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) for the third time, raising concerns that the crew could become “stranded.”

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were initially scheduled for a nine-day stay, which was delayed twice this month and is now at an undetermined date.

The extended stay is intended to allow more time to review technical problems encountered by the capsule while traveling to the ISS, which included thruster failures and leaking valves, Boeing said in a statement.

DailyMail.com spoke to experts who said NASA could be forced to launch a rescue mission and could turn to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to carry it out.

Katsuo Kurabayashi, a professor of aerospace engineering at New York University, said: “Given the current situation with the Starliner, it is possible that NASA will decide to use an alternative spacecraft, such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, to take astronauts to home safe and sound.”

‘As far as I can tell at this time, the recent mission delay to July alone should not raise serious concerns leading to another highly challenging rescue mission or the future abandonment of Starliner-based missions.

“But if by chance they start talking about a rescue mission, it would indicate that some serious and potentially deadly hardware defects have been found on Starliner.”

The astronauts’ return was first rescheduled for June 14 and was rescheduled last week for June 26.

NASA said its staff was evaluating return dates after the station’s two planned spacewalks on June 24 and July 2, hoping to bring the two astronauts back to Earth no later than beginning of July.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said: ‘We are taking our time and following the standard process of our mission management team.

‘We are letting data drive our decision-making regarding management of small helium system leaks and thruster performance that we observe during rendezvous and docking.

“Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate that we complete an agency-level review, similar to that done prior to the return of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 after two months in orbit, to document formal acceptance from the agency on Proceeding as planned.

Starliner lifted off on June 5 at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida last week with the same leak that forced a cleanup in May.

The capsule, however, was launched with a known leak that was reportedly no larger than a shirt button and was quite thin.

Stich said last month that he was confident that 27 of these 28 boosters were working properly, with no leaks or other problems.

However, Starliner found five failures in its 28 maneuvering thrusters, five helium gas leaks intended to pressurize those thrusters, and a slow-moving thruster valve that indicated past problems not fixed since launch.

When Starliner arrived in the vicinity of the space station to dock on June 6, failures of all five boosters prevented the spacecraft from approaching until Boeing made a fix.

He rewrote the software and modified some procedures to revive four of them and proceed with the docking.

Starliner’s undocking and return to Earth represent the most complicated phases of the spacecraft’s test mission.

Boeing has spent $1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond its $4.5 billion development contract with NASA.

NASA officials have said they want to better understand the cause of thruster failures, valve problems and helium leaks before Starliner begins its return.

While only one booster remains dead on the current Starliner flight, Boeing encountered four booster problems during the capsule’s uncrewed return from space in 2022.

The leak that forced a cleanup in May sparked concern among a NASA contractor who urged the space agency to “double down security controls and reexamine safety protocols to make sure Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens.” “.

Erin Faville, president of ValveTech, expressed concern about this month’s launch, telling DailyMail.com: ‘I warned it. I will choose to let it develop.”

While both NASA and Boeing did not seem concerned about the initial leak, Mike Gruntman, a professor of astronautics at the University of Southern California, suggested that the problems were due to manufacturing issues.

“Multiple similar problems (helium leaks) with apparently similar components, as reported in the press, point to a systemic problem with the design or workmanship or testing or engineering of the system or a combination of both,” he said to DailyMail.com.

Gruntman also said that “it is more likely that SpaceX will be able to conduct an additional launch in the foreseeable future to bring the astronauts back.”

The Starliner problems follow a series of problems affecting Boeing’s commercial airplanes.

A Boeing plane experienced a rare Dutch roll at 32,000 feet mid-flight last month, causing the plane to be taken out of service.

Southwest Airlines Flight 746 was carrying 175 passengers from Phoenix to Oakland on May 25 when it experienced the terrifying Dutch rollover.

A Dutch roll is the name given to the combination of a yaw motion when the tail slides and the airplane rolls from wingtip to wingtip. It is said to imitate the movement of a Dutch ice skater.

That same month, Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 experienced deadly “turbulence” related to approaching tropical storms.

The Boeing 777 aircraft operated by Singapore Airlines took off from London Heathrow Airport at 10:17 p.m. local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board.

However, the turbulence caused several injuries and one death; It is unclear whether the Boeing plane experienced a problem or it was a natural event.

And just last week, an Air Canada Boeing plane burst into flames seconds after takeoff.