Astronauts confident they will return to Earth on Boeing’s Starliner

MIAMI, Florida, USA— Astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore y Sunita ‘Suni’ Williamscrew members of the Boeing’s first mission to the International Space Station (ISS), said in a teleconference on Wednesday that they are fully confident they will be able to return to Earth aboard the ship.

The return of both was scheduled for mid-June, but has been postponed – without a date at the moment – due to some technical problems in the Starliner, including five small Helium leaks in the capsule service module.

“Right now, based on what we know, we are absolutely ready,” Wilmore said from the orbital laboratory, adding that the performance of the ship during takeoff and the first 24 hours was “spectacular.”

Both NASA astronauts also expressed confidence in the knowledge and experience of the team behind the mission.

“I have a good feeling in my heart that the ship will bring us home,” said Williams, who said he had no qualms regarding the capabilities of the ship. capsule manufactured by Boeing.

The manned test mission took off on June 5 from a platform at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida (USA), and docked with the Harmony module of the ISS the following day.

The return of the mission, which was scheduled to remain at the space station for regarding a week, has been postponed due to helium leaks discovered during docking, as well as technical problems with the ship’s propulsion system.

NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager, Steve Stichsaid during a subsequent teleconference on Wednesday that based on the information available to date, and with an optimistic view, Wilmore and Williams might be returning to Earth towards the end of July.

Stich acknowledged that one of the aspects that the mission’s technicians are analyzing is how the ship’s battery will operate, which has a duration of 45 days. The mission is currently in its 35th day.

According to the US space agency, once all the tests and data analysis are completed, they will conduct a complete review with Boeing executives before setting the return route to New Mexico from the orbital complex.

The success of the CFT (Crew Flight Test) mission will mean that NASA will have a second provider, following SpaceX, for the transport of manned missions and cargo to the orbital laboratory, under contracts signed with both private firms in 2014.

The capsule, 5 meters high and 4.6 meters in diameter, is reusable (with a limit of up to 10 uses) and has capacity for a maximum of 7 people, although the manned missions commissioned by NASA within this program usually have 4 or 5 passengers on board.

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