Boeing's Starliner to Stay in Space Longer and Return on June 26th

TapTechNews June 19th, according to The Washington Post, NASA said on Tuesday local time that Boeing's Starliner was originally planned to dock with the International Space Station for about a week, but because officials are troubleshooting a helium leak and studying why some thrusters malfunctioned during the test flight, so the spacecraft will stay in space for a little longer and be postponed to June 26th.

According to the plan, the spacecraft will land at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 4:51 a.m. Eastern Time on June 26th. Its journey back to Earth will pass through the atmosphere, which is a key part of the test flight. The heat shield of the spacecraft will withstand a temperature of about 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (TapTechNews note: about 1648.89 degrees Celsius) in this process.

In addition, officials will also check whether the parachute system can land safely. In a previous unmanned test flight, Boeing redesigned the parachute system again. NASA had previously said that the Starliner would return to Earth on June 18th, and then postponed it to June 22nd again.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said at a briefing that, Considering that this is a manned spacecraft, we are willing to spend more time to ensure that no details are missed. We also want to study the systems and the potential interactions between the systems to ensure that nothing is missed before the return. We got a lot of valuable data during the stay at the space station, which benefits both this flight and the next.

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner was launched with two astronauts on June 5th and docked with the International Space Station on June 6th, and was originally planned to separate from the space station and return to Earth on June 14th local time. This mission is a key test before NASA certifies the Starliner for flight.

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Delay after delay, Boeing's Starliner is planned to return to Earth on June 22nd