Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will spend a little longer tethered to the International Space Station (ISS) as engineers on the ground work to recreate the oddities of orbit.
Boeing's Starliner astronauts could be stuck on the ISS until next year
During a July 10 briefing, mission leaders acknowledged that engineers had been unable to recreate the conditions that caused problems for the vehicle's Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters during docking.
During docking with the ISS, the Starliner lost five propellers. Four were recovered, but the cause has engineers scratching their heads as they try to reproduce the problem in ground tests before signing the Starliner off for a nominal return to Earth. According to NASA and Boeing, the Starliner could be used in the event of an emergency, but engineers want to maximize the time available for testing before the service module, which houses the propellers, is discarded before re-entry.
In an earlier briefing with Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the duo reported that they were more than happy to get some bonus time aboard the ISS.
