NASA Still Deciding If ISS Astronauts Can Go Home This Year

(Bloomberg) -- NASA officials said that they would take at least another week to determine how much longer two US astronauts will remain on the International Space Station because of issues with Boeing Co.’s capsule.

Ken Bowersox, a NASA associate administrator, said at a news conference Wednesday that the agency is doing more analysis on the safety of a return flight and expects to make a final decision at the end of next week or early the week of Aug. 26.

“I know everybody would like a date,” he said. “We’ve got some working dates, but I know that we need to maintain that flexibility.”

NASA said last week that it was working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX on plans to return two astronauts to Earth in February 2025 in the event that they’re unable to travel on the troubled Boeing craft. 

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been living on the ISS since June 6, when Boeing’s Starliner docked with the orbiting laboratory. 

During their flight there, the space capsule faced problems, including multiple helium leaks and the failure of some thrusters, the engines the capsule uses to maneuver through space.

NASA said that it would need to make a decision about the return by the last week of August because of the amount of resources available for Starliner as well as the upcoming traffic schedule for the space station.

Joe Acaba, chief astronaut at Johnson Space Center, said NASA has been keeping Williams and Wilmore up to date on their findings. 

“I do ask for their opinion, but when I talk to them, they are relying on us on the ground to analyze the data and to come up with a decision,” he said at the news conference. “They will do what we ask them to do, and that’s their job as astronauts.”

(Updates with fresh comments, details of decision deadline from third paragraph)

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