The saga of Boeing ’s Starliner continues . The space vehicle , intended to ferry astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station ( ISS ) , is currently performing its first crewed trial flight , but what was supposed to be a one - calendar week exam has turn into a multiweek walloping .

Though the two astronaut who traveled on the Starliner , NASA ’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams , are in no danger , they have been stuck on the ISS for seven weeks now . NASA insists that they arenot strandedand that they could apply the Starliner to travel back to Earth in the sheath of an hand brake , but vexation about the performance of the Starliner mean they still have no project return date .

In a imperativeness conference today , July 25 , NASA shared details about the examination being execute on the Starliner ’s thrusters , some of whichmalfunctionedduring the ISS dockage process seven weeks ago .

At the NASA adroitness in White Sands in New Mexico , applied scientist are test a pusher from a Starliner that had been mean for use on a future delegacy to seek to recreate the conditions that caused the original thruster to give out . The problem seems to stem from the pulse pace — that is , how frequently it was enkindle in turn in a scant time ( rather than how hard it was fire or how many pulsation overall ) A standardized problem of loss of thrust was discover in the quizzer pusher as well .

“ Right now we ’re in the middle of the teardown of the pusher , ” said Steve Stich , NASA Commercial Crew Program manager . “ So , we have the thruster at the White Sands exam facility , it ’s in the science lab , it ’s been disassembled . And we ’re look very carefully at the fuel valve and the oxidiser valve . ” These two valves control the flow of propellent into the thruster , and one of them is showing a bulge in a Navy SEAL , which could be creditworthy for the issue .

The authoritative issue is whether the cachet , and therefore the pusher , could survive the payoff escape to Earth . Current examination advise that it can , but NASA was set to do more testing to check this . The next major objet d’art of examination is a spicy attack trial , in which 27 of the Starliner ’s thrusters will be fire while in field to confirm whether any failures occur . That trial is scheduled for this weekend .

In addition to the pusher issue , the space vehicle was also leak helium on its journeying to the station . Since it has been dock , the manifolds have been closed so the system does n’t leak , but now each manifold will be pressurize to test whether the passing water reoccur .

Another business concern was the Starliner ’s battery , which were originally only cleared for 45 days in place . The Starliner has now go by that limit , but the safe life-time of the batteries has been extended to 90 days .

While examination of any spacecraft will often sour up issues , andWilliams and Wilmore have been positiveabout their experience with the Starliner , the ongoing consequence with the Starliner and the lack of quick solvent is starting to wear out on the forbearance of the blank community , withquestions raisedabout whether NASA ’s communication during this time have been sufficient .

“ There ’s been a ton of learning over the last couplet of months while we ’ve been dock that really is preparing us for increase operations , ” enjoin Stich . There is still no date set for the return , however .