Two Astronauts Stranded in Space Due to Boeing's Troubled New Capsule

It's like the script of a sci-fi movie about astronauts being stranded in space! And that's exactly what happened now to two veteran NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are stranded in space due to Boeing Starliner malfunctioning. This added to all the bad news about Boeing aircraft over the years.

On June 5, 2024, Butch Wilmore, 61, and Suni Williams, 58, were launched into space aboard the Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT), the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule, to the International Space Station. 

The mission was meant to last eight days, and they were supposed to reenter the Earth atmosphere on June 14, but the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned as Starliner docked with the ISS. After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. So the Boeing spacecraft will attempt to return to Earth without the two astronauts in September.

 NASA felt it was too risky to bring the two back to Earth aboard Boeing's troubled new capsule, so instead, they would have to wait until February 2025 for a ride home on a SpaceX aircraft, Dragon.

Williams and Wilmore, the two veteran NASA astronauts stranded in space

So what happened to the Boeing Starliner capsule? According to NASA, there's a cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the Starliner capsule. The Starliner will undock in early September, attempt to return on autopilot and touch down in the New Mexico desert.

The agency's leadership said its decision was in the pilots' best interests given the safety considerations around a test flight. 

"Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. "Our decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the Space Station and bring Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value."

Starliner's failures came as a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its commercial airplane side. After years of delays and ballooning costs, Boeing had counted on its astronaut flight debut to revive the troubled program. 

It had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests in space and on the ground, nonetheless, it encountered trouble. Since the two astronauts arrived in orbit, NASA and Boeing have intensively troubleshooting the capsule.

So while waiting for their flight back to Earth in February 2025, Wilmore and Williams will conduct research and space observations aboard the International Space Station.