NASA, Boeing delay Starliner astronaut landing to June 26 amid thruster issues

[Admin]

Boeing's Starliner will come back to Earth with its two astronauts no earlier than June 26. The four-day extension will allow for more thruster testing at the ISS.

NASA, Boeing delay Starliner astronaut landing to June 26 amid thruster issues : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Remember that these 2 astronauts had their changes of clothing confiscated to offset the weight addition of the replacement pump for the urine recycling apparatus. So, now it's 3 weeks in the same clothes? Or did they get some "loners" while on the ISS.

And, please tell us if the urine recycling system has been fixed by now.

 

[newtons_laws]

Remember that these 2 astronauts had their changes of clothing confiscated to offset the weight addition of the replacement pump for the urine recycling apparatus. So, now it's 3 weeks in the same clothes? Or did they get some "loners" while on the ISS.

And, please tell us if the urine recycling system has been fixed by now.

Good point about not bringing clothes for a 3 week stay, hopefully there may be some on the ISS that can be loaned to them (assuming they fit ). Talking of which do they have a washing machine on the ISS, I guess not, it might be tricky in zero g. I suppose dirty clothing is just put into the garbage for disposal when an old cargo ship burns up in the atmosphere on re-entry.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Correct, no washing machines and dirty clothes are burned up on reentering cargo ships.

But, there is some interest in developing space washing machines. See https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-fa...ake-space-washing-machine-designs-for-a-spin/ .

 

[mcswell]

...now it's 3 weeks in the same clothes? Or did they get some "loners" while on the ISS.

If they are still wearing the same smelly clothes, then I guess those two astronauts are loners... unless they got loaners, that is.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Spell check doesn't catch everything.

 

[newtons_laws]

Delayed again until 2nd July at the earliest.....

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Delayed with no new date specified.

Unlike previous delays, the July 2 date is just the date of a space walk that would interfere with Starliner departure. There is no planned date for Starliner to leave at this point.

“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said in the statement. “We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.”

NASA now plans to carry out an agency-level review of Starliner before its departure.

So, this situation does not seem to be as "worry free" as the publicity would imply.