NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams are seen as they prepare to arrive at Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station before their June 5 departure. File Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nearly a month, will take part in a news conference Wednesday about their current status.
The press conference is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT with Steve Stich, NASA’s manager of the commercial crew program, and Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for Boeing, joining from Earth. Advertisement
Both Navy veterans, Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 5 on Boeing’s Starliner on a test flight and were expected to fly home on the spaceship a week later. Since then, the Starliner has developed several technical issues, leaving the astronauts with no way home.
The issues include helium leaks and a truster issue that could make getting back to Earth a hazardous adventure.
NASA said it has no interest in kicking out Wilmore and Williams out and the space station has more than enough supplies for them and the current ISS residents, the crew of Expedition 71.
“NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate Starliner’s propulsion system performance and five small helium leaks in the spacecraft’s service module, gathering as much data as possible while docked to the International Space Station,” NASA said in a statement. Advertisement
“Once all the necessary ground testing and associated data analysis is complete, leaders from NASA and Boeing will conduct an agency-level review before returning from the orbiting complex.”
