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NASA and Boeing officials pushed back against recent reporting that the two astronauts brought to the ISS on Starliner are stranded on board. The companies said in a press conference Friday that they are using \u201cthe luxury of time\u201d to learn as much about the capsule as possible before it returns to Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two astronauts will be there for a few more weeks while the company and NASA perform more tests from the ground \u2014 meaning yet another extension to their stay, though officials declined to provide a new target date for their return.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make it real clear that we\u2019re not in any rush to come home,\u201d Steve Stich, NASA\u2019s commercial crew program manager, said during the press conference. \u201cThe station is a nice, safe place to stop and take our time to work through the vehicle and make sure we\u2019re ready to come home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the interim, engineers from Boeing and NASA will head to New Mexico\u2019s White Sands Test Facility to conduct a series of remote tests on the spacecraft\u2019s thrusters. There are 28 thrusters on Starliner, responsible for making minute changes to the spacecraft\u2019s movements in orbit, and they\u2019re critical for safe docking and undocking from the ISS.\u00a0That docking process was halted on approach when five malfunctioned on orbit<\/a>, but engineers were able to bring four of those thrusters back online, which allowed docking to proceed.<\/p>\n