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TwoNASAastronauts who are stranded on theInternational Space Station(ISS ) after turn on there aboard Boeing ’s Starliner say they are " surefooted " that the ballistic capsule can get them home safely .
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been living on the ISS for over a calendar month . The astronaut rode to orbit on Boeing ’s Starliner spacecraft , which , after years of delays , successfully blasted offon its first crewed flight from Florida ’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:52 ante meridiem EDT on June 5 .
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard, approaches the International Space Station for an autonomous docking as it orbited 257 miles above the South Pacific Ocean.
But it was n’t long before a spate of progeny start to plague the fledgling spacecraft . Engineers chance on five separatehelium leaksin the space vehicle ’s thruster scheme and five failure of its reaction control condition system ( RCS ) thrusters , which will be indispensable for safely orient the craft to reenter Earth ’s air .
With these issues in mind , NASA and Boeing stay the yield of the spacecraft to later this month , leaving the spaceman stranded aboard the ISS .
Still , the spaceman said they are certain they will be able to take back home safely aboard Starliner .
" We ’ve been through a slew of simulations , " Williams said at a news conferenceWednesday ( July 10 ) . " I feel confident that if we had to — if there was a problem with the International Space Station — we could get in our spacecraft , we could undock , talk to our team and figure out the beneficial manner to come home . "
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During their time aboard the ISS , Wilmore and Williams have been perform a number of care job and participating in scientific task . Once a week , they have give to the Starliner capsule to work through pusher outlet with engineers at footing control .
The astronauts ' stay has been largely safe but not entirely without incident . On June 27 , adefunct Russian satellite break aside in orbit , sending debris toward the ISS and forcing Williams and Wilmore , along with the other seven astronauts on board , to take cover inside their various space capsules .
Due to limited battery life , Starliner was initially only O.K. to stay docked with the ISS for 45 day , narrowing the troubleshooting windowpane . as luck would have it , NASA officials revised that windowpane , say the battery could be good for an extra 45 days , allowing the astronauts to stick around in orbit well into fall .
Williams and Wilmore say they are convinced that the Starliner will be able to return them home .
" We are ready . We will be quick unless the data shows otherwise , " Wilmore say at a separate word league Wednesday . " But aright now , establish on what we know , we ’re absolutely ready . "
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Key to Starliner ’s safe reentry is the power of its RCS thruster to perform a safe deorbit burn . That capability is n’t in much doubt , Williams said at the news conference . But the one potential challenge to returning home that has n’t been fully assessed is the condition of the RCS pusher .
" We ’ll find out if they really are degraded , " Williams said . " I remember , with the turn of cat valium we have , we ’re probably going to find something really cocksure . "
" We ’ve practiced a lot , so I have a real good feel in my sum that this spacecraft will bring us habitation , no problem , " she added .
