Boeing’s Starliner Stranded In Space Till At Least August

The hits just keep coming for Boeing, with NASA revealing that its ill-fated Starliner will remain at the International Space Station (ISS) until at least August. After repeated delays, Boeing’s...
Boeing’s Starliner Stranded In Space Till At Least August
Written by Matt Milano
  • The hits just keep coming for Boeing, with NASA revealing that its ill-fated Starliner will remain at the International Space Station (ISS) until at least August.

    After repeated delays, Boeing’s Starliner finally launched and successfully made its way to the ISS. Unfortunately, issues with helium leaks and faulty thrusters led NASA to delay Starliner’s return in late June, saying the craft would not return until sometime in July.

    With July nearly over, NASA and Boeing held a news conference Thursday to acknowledge the troubled craft would remain in space longer than anticipated. While the agency says Starliner’s return will be delayed until at least sometime in August, the agency would not commit to a hard date.

    “We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that,” said NASA’s Commercial Crew manager Steve Stich, according to CNBC.

    Stich revealed that NASA does have contingency plans in place to bring back the two astronauts that were taken to the ISS by Starliner, in the event it becomes necessary. Likely to Boeing executives chagrin, one such a contingency plan involves sending SpaceX’s Dragon to retrieve the two astronauts.

    Boeing suffered one embarrassing mishap after another, both with its aviation and its space divisions. The longer the Starliner situation continues, the more apparent it becomes that SpaceX has won the commercial space race.

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