Two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station after their Boeing spacecraft malfunctioned could be there much longer than anticipated because of an incompatibility with their spacesuits.
NASA told Fox News Digital their Boeing spacesuits are made to work with the company’s spacecraft, while SpaceX’s spacesuits are made to work with its own Dragon vessel, which NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may ride in on their descent back to Earth.
The two astronauts arrived in the Starliner vehicle June 5 and were only supposed to stay until the middle of the month.
Authorities have been discussing how to safely return them home after discovering helium leaks and propulsion problems.
Both astronauts are “very familiar” with the International Space Station, said Russ DeLoach, NASA’s chief of safety and mission assurance. The Starliner test flight marked the third mission to the ISS for each of them.
With the commercialization of space, NASA is not as deeply involved as it once was with every aspect of mission and spacecraft design.
As a result, an incompatibility between the spacesuits designed by SpaceX and Boeing has reportedly created an issue returning Wilmore and Williams to Earth.
“The Boeing spacesuit is made to work with the Starliner spacecraft, and the SpaceX spacesuit is made to work with the Dragon spacecraft,” NASA told Fox News Digital. “Both were designed to fit each unique spacecraft.”
NASA did not confirm whether the issue is detrimental to the astronauts’ return.
Fox News Digital has also reached out to Boeing on the matter.
On Saturday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and agency leaders will hold an internal agency test flight readiness review in connection to the Boeing crew flight test. During the review, “any formal dissents will be presented and reconciled,” NASA said.
After the test, NASA is expected to host a live news conference at 1 p.m. from Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The decision to return the Starliner spacecraft to Earth with astronauts is expected to be made no earlier than Saturday.
According to NASA’s website, if the decision is made to return Starliner to Earth without a crew, Wilmore and Williams will remain on the space station until late February 2025.
NASA would then plan to have the SpaceX Crew-9 mission have only two crew members, instead of four, travel to the space station in September and Wilmore and Williams would return to earth with the two-person crew early next year.
