The life of two Boeing Starliner astronauts stuck indefinitely in space

On Jul 26, 2024

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Getting stuck on the International Space Station for an extended stay could be the ultimate dream vacation. Great views of Earth and solar system right out the window. Flying Superman-style in zero gravity while floating M&Ms into each others’ mouths. There’s even decent internet and an expansive movie selection.

Unfortunately for Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, the NASA astronauts who have had their stay on the space station extended indefinitely while NASA and Boeing determine what went wrong with their spacecraft, the bah-humbug bureaucrats at NASA aren’t allowing them a vacation. While engineers on the ground examine why several of the Starliner spacecraft’s thrusters failed on the way to the station, the astronauts have to work.

The space station is, after all, an orbiting laboratory, and the astronauts’ job while there is to conduct science experiments and upkeep on the station. Now that there are two extra pairs of hands, the work, including the most tedious of chores (yes, even a little toilet maintenance), is being spread around among the nine astronauts on board living in a ship the length of a football field with the living space of a Boeing 747 airplane.

Williams and Wilmore arrived at the space station June 6 for what was supposed to be about am eight-day mission that, as of Friday, has stretched to 51 days. The delay is because of the fact that during the approach to the station, five of the spacecraft’s thrusters shut off suddenly, and the spacecraft also sprung a series of small but persistent helium leaks in its propulsion system. Since then, engineers from Boeing and NASA have been running tests to determine what went wrong and to ensure that the spacecraft is safe to fly Wilmore and Williams home.

At a briefing Thursday, NASA officials still could not say when that would be. They said that Starliner is probably still healthy enough to fly the crew home, but that decision would be made during an intensive review, involving top leadership from NASA and Boeing, that could be scheduled as early as next week.

But they’ve said repeatedly that the astronauts are not stranded and that in the case of an emergency, they could fly home in Starliner. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which has been flying astronauts to the space station for NASA since 2020, could be used an a backup if necessary, NASA officials said.

The mission is the first flight of Starliner with people on board, a test to see how the spacecraft performs before NASA allows a full contingent of four astronauts to fly to the space station for stays as long as six months.

Despite their rocky ride to the space station, the astronauts said this month that they have full confidence in Starliner and are enjoying their extended stay in space, where they can remain in contact with friends and family at home. Wilmore, 61, is a retired Navy captain and fighter jet pilot from Tennessee who is married with two daughters. Williams, 58, is from Massachusetts and is also a retired captain in the Navy, where she served as a helicopter pilot. She is married and enjoys time with the family dogs.

“We’ve been thoroughly busy up here, integrated right into the…