NEEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - NASA leaders on Thursday said there is still no return date for Needham native Suni Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore well over a month after they departed on a scheduled week-long mission to the International Space Station.
Williams and Wilmore became the first astronauts to fly in Boeing’s Starliner capsule early last month. They arrived at the ISS on June 6 after already experiencing technical issues that complicated the docking process.
Seven weeks later, NASA leaders said ongoing issues will keep the pair stuck in orbit while crews on the ground work out a solution.
“We’ve had a lot of learning,” said Steve Stitch of the NASA Commercial Crew Program during a news conference. “I would say this mission has been great to prepare us for future long-duration docked increments.”
“The team is doing great,” Stitch said. “The joint Boeing and NASA team is doing well. They’re working side by side with each other every day.”
Stitch said officials are “methodically looking through the data” and added “We’ll come home when we’re ready.”
Williams and Wilmore earlier this month said they are confident their capsule will be able to eventually return them to Earth, despite its issues.
NASA administrators on Thursday also said the pair would be able to power up the Starliner and launch from the ISS in the event of an emergency.
Boeing developed its Starliner spacecraft in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The reusable capsule is built to support missions to low-Earth orbit and represents another option for NASA to ferry astronauts to and from space more than a decade after the last Space Shuttle flight.
SpaceX has been contracting with NASA to transport astronauts since 2020.
Boeing marked its first crewed Starliner flight to space with last month’s launch.
While celebrating a milestone with the flight, Boeing, NASA, and their astronauts met complications in the form of thruster issues and helium leaks while the Starliner approached the ISS.
Officials said they have conducted tests and made progress in determining what went wrong. But more testing and analysis is needed.
A retired Navy pilot, Williams spoke about her hopes for the Starliner earlier this year, saying she thought the craft would be “a great stepping stone as we’re getting ready to leave low Earth orbit and go back to the Moon.”
“I think if I was a young astronaut and I was thinking about going to the Moon I think I would put my hand up and say I want to fly Starliner,” she said.
Williams already made four spacewalks and spent 195 days aboard the ISS in 2006 before her return to the space station this year.
She was also the first person to complete a triathlon and the Boston Marathon from space.
Williams spoke to students at Needham’s Sunita L. Williams Elementary School back in June, taking questions from students and sharing her experience of being in space.
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