Failures on Boeing’s Starliner Could Keep Astronauts on Space Station for 6 More Months

NASA looking at multiple courses of action to return test pilots to Earth.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft which launched astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station docked to the Harmony module's forward port on July 3, 2024, seen from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the adjacent port. NASA via AP

Boeing’s test pilots on its new Starliner spacecraft face uncertainty aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as NASA considers multiple contingency plans to bring them home, the agency said during an Aug. 7 press conference.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been aboard the ISS for more than 60 days as Boeing and NASA conducted extensive testing on an identical capsule at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico to determine the cause of Starliner’s failing thrusters.