Two astronauts on 8-day mission may be trapped until 2025

Two astronauts on 8-day mission may be trapped until 2025

Two astronauts may have to wait until 2025 to return from the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials have announced.

The Boeing Starliner capsule, which sent them into orbit at the beginning of June, is currently unable to return them safely to Earth. The American agency could therefore call on Elon Musk and his company SpaceX, but if Starliner cannot make it back from the ISS, the duo could possibly return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025.

“We could take either path,” Ken Bowersox, the associate administrator for NASA’s space operations mission directorate, said. “And reasonable people could pick either path depending on where their view is on, on our position and the uncertainty bound that we have for the data that we’ve got on the thruster system, on the propulsion system.”

According to Fox16, Starliner launched its test crew mission on June 5, after a series of delays caused by leaks and thruster issues. This marked the first time the company launched a crewed mission to space.

READ ALSO:

• 159 domestic violence, rape cases recorded in Kwara – NSCDC
• Ex-Rivers LG chairmen accuse Fubara of sponsoring attack on Wike’s property, threaten reprisal
• Why Nigerian cyclist ‘borrowed’ bicycle from German team at Olympics – Sports minister

While trying to dock at the ISS in June, five of the 28 thrusters went down. The mission was initially supposed to last about 8 days, but there is still no official return date for Wiliams and Wilmore after the issues.