NASA pushes Boeing Starliner return meeting to at least next week
Despite NASA officials last week stating a return readiness review might happen this week for Boeing’s Starliner, teams instead continue to go over data for the spacecraft before any decision on its departure from the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams await the decision of whether or not they will be able to climb back aboard the spacecraft for its return to Earth to complete the Crew Flight Test mission. That readiness review was pushed to next week at the earliest, according to an update from NASA.
The duo launched aboard Starliner atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station back on June 5 for what was originally planned to be about an eight-day mission to the ISS. On their way to a June 6 docking, though, the spacecraft suffered failures on five of its 28 reaction control thrusters as well as identifying several helium leaks in the service module that houses the thrusters.
Boeing says Starliner hot fire test on ISS went well with return date decision coming up