Boeing's Starliner space capsule faces make-or-break tests before crew can come home

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule faces make-or-break tests before crew can come home

Benjamin Hughes

Critical tests are on tap this weekend to confirm Boeing’s Starliner capsule can safety carry its two-person crew back to Earth despite problems that emerged early in the mission, officials said Thursday. 

Unexpected helium leaks and degraded maneuvering thrusters, discovered during the ship’s rendezvous with the International Space Station in early June, triggered weeks of testing and analysis that have extended the ship’s first piloted test flight from a little more than one week to nearly two months.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, both veterans of earlier space station visits, have taken the extended mission in stride and are enjoying their bonus time in orbit.

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Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule docked to the International Space Station.

NASA


As for when they might be cleared to return to Earth, Stich told reporters “we don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.”

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William Harwood

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

Source: cbsnews.com