10 Boeing x NASA Starliner Astronaut Situation Facts

Quick Facts on what is happening with the 2 Astronauts on the Defective Starliner Ship

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.

♦ The two Astronauts involved are Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Both astronauts are veterans of two previous spaceflights, with more than 500 days in space combined between them.

♦ This flight, Starliner, is a Collab between Boeing and NASA. It’s the first manned flight with this ship, to test the readiness for the Starliner-1.

♦ Before takeoff, errors were already detected, but the launch was Go anyway.

♦ Once in space, a day after liftoff (June 6), 5 flight thrusters shut down and a helium leak was detected. They were able to land at the International Space Station safely.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule approaches the International Space Station for docking on June 6, 2024. (Image credit: NASA TV)

♦ Officials have maintained that degraded seals are likely causing the helium leaks and thruster issues.

♦ The ship IS CLEARED TO FLY HOME with the astronauts in emergency circumstances. However, it was decided to have them stay in space to spend time for researchers, on Earth and the Station, to troubleshoot the ship.