“They could come back with SpaceX, but that would be a disaster.”

NASA and Boeing have postponed the return of Starliner, a Boeing space capsule, from the International Space Station to Earth. The US Space Agency had announced this earlier on the X website.

The return trip was scheduled to take place today at the latest. NASA did not set a new date, but it announced that the return of the Starliner vehicle with astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sonny Williams on board will not be before next June.

The Starliner spacecraft docked with the International Space Station just over two weeks ago. On board were 58-year-old Sonny Williams and 61-year-old Butch Wilmore of NASA. However, the plane encountered several technical problems along the way. For example, helium leaks have occurred. After problems with the engines, the spacecraft was able to dock with the International Space Station in only the second attempt.

The first crewed flight of the Starliner was the final test flight of Boeing’s space capsule before it could be used for regular flights to and from the International Space Station.

Starliner is a partially reusable spacecraft that, unlike Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, lands not on water but on land.

The Starliner, developed and manufactured by American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, made its first successful unmanned flight in 2022.

The pair could return with SpaceX.

Photo: Wikipedia rv