Starliner returning Friday, but astronauts will remain on ISS

(NewsNation) — Boeing’s Starliner capsule will leave the International Space Station on Friday without its two astronauts on board.

Weather permitting, the capsule will then land at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at about midnight Saturday — six hours after taking off from the ISS.

Steve Stitch, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore “were never really stuck or stranded.”

“They always had a way to depart the Space Station,” he said. “And to me, when somebody is stranded, they are in a location where they cannot leave and so, they had Starliner as the vehicle they could depart from for a period of time.”

NASA recently decided it was too risky for Williams and Wilmore to return on the Starliner as originally planned. The troubled capsule has experienced a series of issues with its reaction control thrusters and helium leaks.

What was supposed to be an eight-day mission for Williams and Wilmore is more likely to last eight months, with their return now planned for February.

In the meantime, they both are staying inside an orbiting lab at the ISS, where they are performing other experiments and exercising when they can.

The two will now catch a ride on SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule, which is set to launch to the ISS at the end of the month but won’t return to Earth until next year.

NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo spoke to Williams’ mom, Bonnie Pandya, last week.

“She told me not to worry about her,” Pandya said. “Everything’s gonna be fine. I’ve been an astronaut mom for 20 years, and this is her third flight. Even though it has a problem, we still don’t feel that there’s a big problem. They just want to be sure that they’re safe coming back.” 

Williams and Wilmore have been on the ISS since early June.

NASA officials say the astronauts aren’t “stuck in space,” but are now part of a different mission while they wait to come home.

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