By: Aiden Ding

In early June, N.A.S.A. sent two of its astronauts to the I.S.S (International Space Station) on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for a test flight. The mission took an unexpected turn as the astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, experienced a malfunction as they arrived at the ISS. The astronauts were forced to stay on the Space Station for a few weeks longer than planned.

In a statement to reassure the public, Mark Nappi, a program manager who works for Boeing for Starliner, stated, “We’re not stuck on the I.S.S.” at his Friday news conference. “The crew is not in any danger,” added Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s commercial crew program. Stitch mentioned that the statement of astronauts being stranded in space was false news, and they would make sure that the astronauts got home on time.

While docking, 5 of the 28 steering jets on the Boeing behaved not as intended. The Starliner’s machinery guided the craft and was able to fix the problem using the remaining thrusters. Currently, the problem seems to be fixed as 4 out of 5 thrusters are now working normally.

At the moment, Starliner isn’t the only issue in NASA. A spacewalk was cut short this Monday as liquid dripped out of one of the umbilical cords in the spacesuit while NASA’s astronauts were in the ship’s airlock.

The public still do not know much about the issue with Butch and Suni right now, and hopefully, more will be learnt soon.