Boeing jinx?: Starliner spacecraft carrying Sunita Williams won't return to Earth till June 18
Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams aboard the ISS
After multiple delays in its journey from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS), now, the Boeing Starliner's return journeyto our planet has been jinxed.
NASA and Boeing have announced a delay in the return of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on which NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams travelled to the ISS.
When will NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore come home?
As per Reuters, the return spaceflight has been pushed back to June 18.
Originally, Starliner was expected to undock from the ISS on Friday (June 14) and return to Earth after launching its inaugural crew of two NASA astronauts from Florida on June 5.
The delay comes as mission analysts examine issues that could potentially affect the spacecraft's return.
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Several factors are being considered in scheduling Starliner's return, including fixes to faulty components on the spacecraft, weather conditions, and ISS scheduling matters such as spacewalks by other astronauts aboard the station. More changes to Starliner's return date could be announced during its mission.
As of Tuesday, mission officials were targeting June 18 for Starliner's undocking from the station.
Where will it land?
The spacecraft would land in the desert of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Willcox Playa in Arizona, or other similar pre-determined locations roughly six hours after undocking, pending weather conditions.
NASA's deputy programme manager for the ISS, Dina Contella, told reporters on Tuesday (June 11) that a new issue has cropped up on Starliner while it remained docked to the station - a "sticky" oxidizer valve.
Furthermore, an additional helium leak on Starliner's propulsion system was mentioned in a NASA blog on Monday, on top of four already identified during its journey to the space station last week.
Despite these challenges, NASA and Boeing were able to regain four of the five manoeuvring thrusters that went dead during the flight to the ISS before docking to the orbital laboratory.
Starliner can stay docked to the ISS for a maximum of 45 days, according to NASA officials. This mission is a crucial test before NASA can certify Starliner for routine flights.
(With inputs from agencies)
