and engineers on Earth race against time to fix multiple issues The two astronauts aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft are stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) with no timetable for returning home.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 12, after Boeing's Starliner spacecraft launched its first flight.
Astronauts stranded in space:
What happened? The spacecraft's return to Earth had already been delayed three times due to problems with some thrusters and leaks of the helium gas that propels fuel into the propulsion system.
But officials said they were relatively minor and tried to downplay them. "These are really pretty minor issues to deal with," Mark Nappi, Boeing's vice president and program manager for Commercial Crew, said during a post-docking press conference. "We'll work them out for the next mission. I don't see them as significant."
Starliner was launched on June 5, 2024, although the problem still exists. The leak was extremely small and engineers believed it would not affect the mission, so they went ahead with the launch. But the situation ended up getting worse and the crew has not yet been able to return to the planet.
Now SpaceX is entering the fray and wants to bring the astronauts back on the Dragon spacecraft.
A final decision has not yet been made.