NASA and Boeing have stated a deadline of mid-August for the return of Starliner
NASA and Boeing announced that they are considering mid-August as the latest possible date for the return to Earth of the Starliner spacecraft stuck in orbit due to technical problems. Project participants assured that they remain committed to returning Starliner, which is docked to the International Space Station (ISS), and are not considering sending a replacement craft from rival SpaceX for its crew.
“The changeover of (ISS) Crew 8 and Crew 9 in mid-August is kind of the deadline for us to get (Starliner astronauts) Butch (Wilmore) and Suni (Williams) back,” NASA commercial manned spaceflight programme manager Steve Stich told reporters.
He added that according to preliminary calculations, the spacecraft’s battery charge should be sufficient until then.
Boeing Vice President Mark Nappi said he sees no reason to abandon plans to return Starliner. “We plan to bring the crew home on Starliner, we see no reason to change that… There have been no conversations with SpaceX about sending another Dragon for the Starliner crew,” he said.
