By: Nathan Chen

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will now stay in orbit for additional weeks after one of the thrusters had broken down due to malfunction. Engineers are trying to troubleshoot this problem on the thruster. Though directly tasked with returning home following the test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the date for their return hasn’t been set as investigations into broken thrusters on the vehicle are still ongoing.

Officials said the astronauts were safe and not stranded. “We’re not stuck on I.S.S.,” said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager. “The vehicle and the crew are in good shape,”
NASA’s Steve Stich, manager of the commercial crew program, confirmed.

The delay was due to the failure of one approach with five of Starliner’s 28 jets while it was on its final approach to the space station. Four of the thrusters went back to normal operation; the fifth remained off and could not be used on its journey home. Anyways, NASA and Boeing are running deep analyses to know fully what has been the root cause of these anomalies to proceed further.

Engineers will run ground tests next week at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico with a similar thruster to those on Starliner. Testing could take several weeks.

Meanwhile, Wilmore and Williams were safe aboard ISS and could avail themselves of Starliner to get home in the event of an emergency. The capsule cleared for a 45-day docked stay due to battery design limitations and has performed well until there is a need to extend beyond this period. As NASA and Boeing work hard to resolve the thruster issues, the safety of the astronauts remains their top priority.

Sources:
NASA astronauts to extend space station stay as engineers troubleshoot Boeing capsule : NPR
Astronauts Are Not Stuck on the I.S.S., NASA and Boeing Officials Say