①The spaceship's return to Earth has been postponed to June 26th, which is the third delay. ②Delaying the return of the interstellar spacecraft is to "give our team a little more time to review the data, do some analysis, and make sure we're really ready to go home."
On June 19, Caixin reported (Editor: Niu Zhanlin) that the return time of Boeing's Starliner and its first group of astronauts from the International Space Station has been delayed until June 26 due to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officials. If they cannot return at that time, there will be another chance on July 2. On June 11, NASA announced that the return time of the Starliner would be delayed by four days to no earlier than June 18th. By June 14th, NASA announced that the spacecraft would return no earlier than June 22nd. Today, the spacecraft's return to Earth has been delayed again to June 26, making this the third delay. After many delays, people cannot help but ask: What happened to the Boeing spacecraft? Will it return to Earth normally?
This is not the first time that the return time has been postponed. On June 11th, NASA announced that the return time of the Starliner would be delayed by four days from June 14th to no earlier than June 18th. By June 14th, NASA announced that the spacecraft would return no earlier than June 22nd.
Today, the spacecraft's return to Earth has been delayed again to June 26th, so this is the third time it has been delayed. After many letdowns, people cannot help but ask: What happened to the Boeing spacecraft? Will it return to Earth normally?
Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Starliner was delayed in order to "give our team a little more time to look at the data, do some analysis, and make sure we're really ready to come home." Staff will also evaluate available landing sites and weather conditions.
Looking back at the background, the Starliner carrying two American astronauts was launched on June 5th, flew to the International Space Station on June 6th and docked with it. Originally planned to separate from the space station on June 14th and return to Earth, it stayed on the space station for about a week.
According to NASA, the spacecraft can dock with the International Space Station for up to 45 days in the current mission phase. Therefore, the Starliner still has nearly one month of stay time. If it still cannot return to Earth normally after the deadline, it is not yet known how things will develop next.
The time required for the spacecraft to return to Earth is less than 7 hours. Depending on weather conditions, the Starliner may land in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Wilcox Beach, Arizona, or Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
The problem persists.
According to information previously released by NASA, the Starliner had another helium leak incident after docking. Earlier, the spacecraft had also experienced several helium leaks during the flight to the International Space Station. However, NASA emphasized that the risk of helium leaks was small and that astronauts had repaired the spacecraft while in orbit.
Before docking with the space station, five of the Starliner's 28 thrusters failed, but NASA and Boeing were able to restore four of them to working condition, leaving one unusable.
Regarding the multiple delays, Mark Nappi, head of Boeing's commercial crew space project, responded: "We believe this is an opportunity, and in this case, we're honored to stay on the space station and do more work. We've always said this is a test flight, and we'll learn something." He added that although helium leaks are still controllable, they are not working as originally designed, so it is necessary to clarify this and why some thrusters have failed. Some tests were conducted last weekend and the results showed that the spacecraft's condition had indeed improved, with analysis of the data being the main reason for the delay in return.
He added that although helium leaks are still controllable, they are not working as originally designed, so it is necessary to clarify this and why some thrusters have failed. Some tests were conducted last weekend and the results showed that the spacecraft's condition had indeed improved, with analysis of the data being the main reason for the delay in return.