NASA has actually pressed back the choice to return its stranded Starliner astronauts to the end of August pending a “significant conversation” about the spaceship’s flight preparedness, firm authorities have actually stated.

Initially prepared to last simply 8 days, various leakages and other technical problems suffered by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its method to the International Space Station (ISS) in June postponed the prepared return flight by more than 2 months, and left its 2 astronauts– Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams– stuck in area.

As engineers continue to gather and dispute test outcomes on the craft’s issues, NASA employers are still mulling over whether to return the 2 astronauts on Starliner, or take them back on a SpaceX Dragon pill 6 months later on rather.

“It’s a relatively significant conversation to choose whether we’re going to have team on board for Starliner’s return.” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, stated at a press conference Wednesday (August 14). “We’re anticipating that the information analysis will be all set for a program board by the middle to end of next week, and will be prepared for a flight preparedness evaluation around completion of next week.”

Boeing developed the Starliner pill as a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a collaboration in between the company and personal business to transport astronauts into low Earth orbit following the retirement of NASA’s area shuttle bus in 2011.

Starliner launched on its inaugural crewed test flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5. Not long after getting in orbit, a number of faults appeared– consisting of 5 helium leakages and 5 failures of its response control system (RCS) thrusters.

This forced engineers to repair concerns from the ground. Tests performed at Starliner’s center in White Sands, New Mexico, exposed that throughout the spacecraft’s reach the ISS, the teflon seals inside the 5 malfunctioning RCS thrusters most likely fumed and bulged out of location to block the propellant circulation, according to NASA.

Related: Repairing Boeing’s dripping Starliner– and returning NASA’s stranded astronauts to Earth– is much more difficult than it sounds

A hotfire test carried out while the craft was docked to the ISS on July 27 revealed the thrust was typical, however NASA engineers are worried the earlier thruster issues might come back throughout the craft’s descent back to Earth. They are likewise fretted that the helium leakages might knock out a few of the craft’s orbital maneuvering and mindset control system (OMAC) thrusters, which preserve the spacecraft on its flight course.

“The worst case would be some integrated failure system, in between the helium leakages and the RCS thrusters,” Steve Stichthe program supervisor for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, stated at a previous press conference on Aug. 7. “Then you might wind up in many cases that aren’t as quickly managed– more worrying cases that the group is stressed over.”

NASA’s leading contingency strategy is to bring the astronauts home aboard a SpaceX Dragon pill rather. The car will be sent out to the ISS as early as Sept. 24 bring members of the ISS’s Crew-9, who will take over from the present Crew-8 aboard the spaceport station. Rather of Crew-9’s typical 4 individual team, 2 astronauts will go to the ISS to leave area for Wilmore and Williams to return in February 2025.

“I do wish to keep this in viewpoint, if Butch and Suni do not get back on Starliner, they will have about 8 months in orbit,” Russ DeLoachNASA’s chief of security and objective guarantee, stated at the Aug. 14 press conference.

Regardless of Starliner’s issues, NASA stated that its astronauts are safe and comfy aboard the ISS.

“This objective was a test flight … they understood this objective may not be ideal,” Joe AcabaNASA’s primary astronaut, stated at journalism conference. “Human area flight is naturally dangerous, and as astronauts, we accept that as part of the task.”