A NASA mission has gone wrong.
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 60, and Sunita Williams, 58, are stuck at the International Space Station after their spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner, had several malfunctions, according to the Associated Press.
During the Starliner’s launch June 5, which was the first of its kind with people aboard, the spacecraft had a leak in its propulsion-related plumbing, but engineers deemed it to be “stable and isolated,” according to the Associated Press, and proceeded with the mission.
The next day however, as Wilmore and Williams approached the space station, four more leaks emerged, and five thrusters—a device used for acceleration and station keeping—failed, per AP. The crew managed to dock at the station safely, but since June 6 have remained in space on a trip that was originally meant to last only eight days, according to the outlet.
At the moment, NASA must decide whether the Starliner can be made fit for traveling back to Earth, or if Wilmore and Williams should wait until a SpaceX Dragon craft can retrieve them, meaning they’ll remain at the space station until 2025 (SpaceX will launch its Dragon craft for its own mission next month, which will last until February, when it can return to Earth), according to the Associated Press.
