Astronauts On Boeing’s First Manned Craft Have Been Stuck In Space For 2 Months. NASA Still Isn’t Sure When It Will Get Them Home.

Two astronauts have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since early June after their Boeing Starliner — the company’s first manned spacecraft — sprang leaks and lost multiple thrusters while approaching the space station.

Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were supposed to be in space for a total of eight days when they left Earth on June 5, but the Boeing Starliner’s mechanical issues have prolonged their stay, and NASA is still unsure of when the Americans will come back home. NASA has even suggested that Wilmore and Williams might have to stay at the space station until February, turning their eight-day mission into an eight-month stay.

NASA has been considering greenlighting a return flight in the Boeing Starliner, and Boeing remains confident that its spacecraft could complete the trek back down to Earth, according to Live Science. Boeing said it would bring its ship back empty if NASA decides to leave the astronauts at the International Space Station instead of risking a return trip on the plagued Starliner.

“It’s a fairly major discussion to decide whether or not we’re going to have crew on board for Starliner’s return,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We’re expecting that the data analysis will be ready for a program board by the middle to end of next week, and will be ready for a flight readiness review around the end of next week.”

The Boeing Starliner had issues even before it launched with Wilmore and Williams on board on June 5 when it sprang a leak in the propulsion-related plumbing. Five of Starliner’s thrusters also failed as it approached the space station. After conducting tests from the ground and in space, all but one of the spacecraft’s 28 thrusters appear to be working, the Associated Press reported. The thrusters are vital to keep the capsule in the right position during its deorbit burn.

NASA is considering bringing Wilmore and Williams home on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, a spacecraft made by Elon Musk’s space exploration and rocket company. The Dragon capsule would usually go up to the space station with a four-man crew, but if seats are needed for Wilmore and Williams, it will carry two astronauts of Crew-9 to the ISS. Under that plan, Wilmore and Williams would have to remain at the ISS until February 2025 as that is when Crew-9 is scheduled to return on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI

“I do want to keep this in perspective, if Butch and Suni do not come home on Starliner, they will have about 8 months in orbit,” Russ DeLoach, NASA’s chief of safety and mission assurance, said at the Wednesday news conference.

NASA assured that its astronauts are still healthy and safe aboard the ISS and have enough food and water to stay there for the long haul. Astronauts have stayed at the ISS for months at a time. Recently, Frank Rubio and his Russian crewmembers were at the ISS for over a year after their spacecraft was damaged by space junk after it had docked, the Associated Press reported. Russia sent an empty capsule to bring them back home in September 2023.

The Boing Starliner fiasco adds another item to the list of recent issues plaguing the aerospace company. Earlier this year, a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max shortly after it had taken off. More than seven months after the incident, Boeing still doesn’t know who was responsible for replacing the door plug before it flew off the Alaska Airlines plane, according to CNN. In a separate case, the aerospace company pled guilty last month to conspiracy to defraud the United States after it was charged over two crashes involving the company’s planes in which hundreds of people died.