Boeing’s crewed Starliner flight won’t return until August

Boeing’s crew spacecraft Starliner will stay docked with the International Space Station into August, NASA confirmed on Thursday, as the mission remains on hold while the company and agency study problems that arose early in the flight.

Starliner capsule “Calypso,” which carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS, has now been in space 50 days and counting. The Boeing crew flight test has been extended several times while NASA conducted testing back on the ground prior to clearing the spacecraft to carry the pair of astronauts back to Earth.

NASA’s Commercial Crew manager Steve Stich said during a press conference Thursday that the agency was not prepared to set a return date.

“We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that,” Stich said.

NASA needs to conduct a review that won’t happen until the first week of August, Stich said, and only after that review will the agency schedule Starliner’s return.

Boeing and NASA earlier this month began testing the spacecraft’s malfunctioning propulsion system back on the ground in White Sands, New Mexico. Currently, the organizations are analyzing the thruster that was tested in White Sands and this weekend expect to have the Starliner capsule conduct test firings while docked with the ISS.

Stich acknowledged again that NASA has contingency plans in case the agency determines that Starliner should return without Wilmore and Williams — alternatives that include using SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to bring back NASA’s astronauts.