Marooned astronauts cannot return until February

The faulty Boeing Starliner has left two astronauts marooned on the International Space Station (ISS) for two months when their trip was supposed to be just 8 days. Now, NASA has said that the stay will probably be extended to February or March 2025.

Boeing’s Starliner propulsion system failed adding to a litany of mechanical faults the company has recently experienced including a door blowing off one of their planes, 2 crashes of planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, issues with landing gear, including a plane’s wheel falling off, and now this, all further tarnishing the name of the once aerospace leader.

Stranded astronauts accepted news calmly

The stranded astronauts, Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Commander Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, accepted the bad news calmly, while their families put a brave face on the situation. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at a press conference that a manned return on Starliner would be too dangerous, and the two astronauts are safest staying on the space station for the time being.

Starliner will now undock in early September and attempt to return to Earth on autopilot. The two astronauts are set to return in February on a SpaceX crewed Dragon spacecraft which is due to launch next month as part of a routine astronaut rotation mission.