On 5 June 2024, two American Astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, left Earth on an eight-day test mission to the International Space Station on a Boeing Starliner capsule. They, and their entire team and family, expected the mission to go smoothly, and return to Earth on 16 June, however, things didn’t quite go to plan. They experienced several technical issues, and they are now stuck in space, with no definitive date of when they will be able to return to Earth.
The mission that they had prepared for was to test the spacecraft with passengers for the first time ever. The spacecraft the astronauts left Earth in was the Boeing Crew Space Transportation 100 Starliner spacecraft which was developed collaboratively with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The intention behind the development of this spacecraft was to be able to accommodate up to seven passengers or, if needed, a mix of crew and cargo.
This spacecraft is innovative and can be used up to ten times—something that previous spacecraft have been unable to do—and it has some of the most up-to-date technology on board.
When Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore were towards the end of their journey up to the International Space Station, engineers on the ground noticed some issues with the spacecraft’s thrusters and realised that there was a helium leak.
Astronauts are highly trained, not only in simulations of space travel, space walks, zero-gravity and G-force, but also in other disciplines such as Earth sciences, meteorology, space science, and engineering.
They also undergo extensive training on the specific spacecraft with which they are travelling to space, to ensure that if there are any technical issues, they can fix them.
In this case, however, the astronauts do not have the supplies and materials they need to fix the leaks in the spacecraft’s propulsion system, resulting in them being unable to return to Earth until a new spacecraft can be sent up to them.
In the most recent update from the BBC, NASA are expecting these two astronauts to be on the International Space Station for up to eight months.
The Boeing spacecraft within which they went up to space is being flown back to Earth in the coming days without them in it, as neither the astronauts, nor the team on Earth are convinced that it would be safe to put people in the vessel.
According to the BBC, Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore are “happy and healthy” and thank everyone for all the kind messages sent.
While they say that they miss their families, they spoke about having lots of work to get on with on the International Space Station and that it is their “happy place”.
While there is no exact date for their return to Earth, it has been confirmed that a spacecraft from Boeing’s rival company, SpaceX, will be used for their return.