Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for over a month due to technical issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Initially planned for a brief stay, they encountered helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, preventing their return to Earth. Despite the setbacks, both astronauts remain confident in the spacecraft’s ability to bring them back safely if needed. Meanwhile, Boeing and NASA are conducting tests to assess the situation, raising questions about potential rescue scenarios involving Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsule.

For more than a month, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been residing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) following a string of mechanical problems with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, including helium leaks and a thruster malfunction.

On June 5, Wilmore and Williams launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force in Florida, and a day later, they docked with the International Space Station. By June 14, the two astronauts were supposed to have returned to Earth after just a week on the ISS.

But crucial systems for properly orienting the spaceship into Earth’s atmosphere were found to have five distinct helium leaks in the Starliner’s propulsion system and five thruster failures in its reaction control system. The astronauts have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) due to unsolved issues.

“I feel confident that if we had to — if there was a problem with the International Space Station — we’d get in our spacecraft and we can undock, talk to our team and figure out the best way to come home,” Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, told reporters via a remote video link on Wednesday.

Williams continued, “I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.”

The 61-year-old flight commander Wilmore, a retired Navy captain, told reporters, “We’re absolutely confident.” In the event of an ISS incident, he added, the “Safe Haven procedure” with Williams had already taken place aboard the Starliner.

Williams noted, “We’ve been through a lot of simulations…and I think where we are right now…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 best way to come home.” 

Wilmore and Williams are regarded as Starliner’s “guinea pig” test pilots for the first ISS mission. Boeing recently revealed that crews were simulating ground-based thruster testing at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.

“This testing aims to replicate the worst-case thruster observed during flight,” Vice President of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program Mark Nappi said to reporters.

NASA and Boeing will decide what to do next for Starliner based on the engineers’ test results.

If Elon Musk’s SpaceX was called upon to immediately deploy a Dragon capsule to rescue the stranded astronauts, wouldn’t that be something?

Last month, GreatGameIndia reported that NASA announced SpaceX will build a spacecraft, dubbed the ‘U.S. Deorbit Vehicle,’ tasked with guiding the International Space Station (ISS) into controlled destruction by the end of this decade.