NASA nears decision on what to do with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft

Enlarge / Boeing’s Strainer spacecraft is seen docked at the International Space Station in this picture taken July 3. (credit: NASA)

The astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last month still don’t know when they will return to Earth.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 51 days, six weeks longer than originally planned, as engineers on the ground work through problems with Starliner’s propulsion system.

The problems are two-fold. The spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters overheated, and some of them shut off as Starliner approached the space station June 6. A separate, although perhaps related, problem involves helium leaks in the craft’s propulsion system.