Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore Stuck on the ISS Make Their Games

It’s been two months to the day since astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore blasted off from the United States for the final test flight of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule. The trip was supposed to last about ten days, with a short stay at the International Space Station. But nothing went as planned and the two astronauts are still stuck up there!

The two astronauts are still in space and have no return date. The cause is two technical problems encountered by their space capsule during the outbound flight: a leak of helium, a gas used in the propulsion system, and especially ignition problems on some of the small thrusters themselves. This had also complicated the docking with the ISS in early June because these thrusters are used to perfectly maneuver the spacecraft.

Under these conditions, there is no question of attempting the return flight. First, for safety reasons for the two astronauts, but also because this test must be completed as well as possible if Boeing wants to receive certification of its capsule, the validation by NASA of its machine which can then be used to make the regular connection with the ISS. Boeing would then join Space X as a provider of this service, several years late. The stakes are therefore high for the aeronautical firm.

For two months, Boeing, NASA and its crew have been working on one thing: ensuring the return flight and this involves many tests on land, first, where engineers have reproduced the conditions of use of the thrusters in space to try to understand what has malfunctioned. After several weeks of testing, apparently, the fault has been found, but NASA and Boeing are not saying much more.

Simulations aboard the capsule docked to the ISS have also been conducted. The last one, a few days ago, with the two astronauts at the controls, who lit 27 of the 28 thrusters one by one and also checked the level of helium leakage. There again, not much information except to say that it went well overall. In short, for the moment, it is still time for investigation and verification and therefore there is no return date announced yet.

Fortunately, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are two space veterans who have seen it all and the Station is well equipped to handle this presence, even though there are now 9 of them on board compared to the usual 7.

No worries about food, there are stocks, but we have to keep busy. Our two astronauts are therefore participating in the maintenance of the ISS, NASA tells us that they are doing a bit of plumbing, that they helped install a high-definition TV link system that was successfully tested a few days ago and then we also have to take some time to relax. In the Station as on Earth, one of the current news is the Olympics, so the whole crew recently organized the Space Games with a simulated discus throw, passing a fake homemade flame, weightlifting session or sprint. A little slowed down due to weightlessness.