Faulty Boeing Starliner leaves astronauts trapped in space for 51 days - and there's no end to their ordeal in sight

A pair of Astronauts remain trapped in space with no end in sight to their near two month long ordeal while engineers try to fix their faulty Boeing spaceship.

Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore have had their stay on the International Space Station extended indefinitely after hoping to visit the orbiting lab for 8 days.

On Friday July 26, they hit day 51. 

Thruster failures and helium links on Boeing's new Starliner capsule has prompted NASA and Boeing to keep them in orbit for longer over fears a trip back on the spacecraft could end in disaster.

NASA confirmed earlier this week that they are not ready to announce a return date. 

At a briefing, officials said that the Starliner was probably safe enough to fly the two home, but that decision would be made during a review. 

The space agency and Boeing have repeatedly said that the astronauts are not stranded and that in case of an emergency they could fly home in Starliner. 

But that has raised questions about why Williams and Wilmore can't just fly home now, if the Boeing craft really is safe. The work being done on the Starliner is also being performed remotely - with no engineer sent to space to work on the actual craft itself.  

Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore have had their stay on the International Space Station extended indefinitely after hoping to visit the orbiting lab for 8 days

The Starliner is pictured docked in the International Space Station. The two astronauts who flew to space on the faulty aircraft remain trapped above the Earth indefinitely while NASA and Boeing probe a series of defects 

Thruster failures and helium links on Boeing's new Starliner capsule, seen here aboard a Atlas V rocket, has prompted NASA and Boeing to keep them in orbit for longer

NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich acknowledge that backup options are being reviewed, including SpaceX's Dragon capsule. 

The capsule blasted off from Florida atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on June 5, with NASA saying a few hours later that the capsule had sprung two leaks. 

While the capsule docked at the station on June 6, another leak was found and days later on June 10 another was spotted. 

In addition to the helium leaks, five thrusters temporarily malfunctioned during the flight but four came back online, with the fifth being shut off. 

If the spacecraft was to suffer another failure on the way back to Earth, the consequences could be catastrophic for its occupants.  

The Starliner fiasco heaps fresh embarrassment on Boeing, whose commercial aviation department has been plagued by scandals and crashes.

Earlier this year, a 737 MAX plane burst open while flying over Portland, with two other MAX jets crashing in 2018 and 2019, killing more than 300.

Boeing has been accused of putting profits before safety and has vowed to improve the quality of its products after the series of catastrophic failures.  

Williams and Wilmore, despite their unfortunate position, have to work conducting science experiments and upkeep on the station - including cleaning its toilets. 

During a briefing with reports, Williams said: 'We've been thoroughly busy up here, integrated right into the crew.

'It feels like coming back home. It feels good to float around. It feels good to be in space and work up with the ISS team. So yeah, it's great to be up here.'

Since their arrival, they have performing ultrasounds on their veins to collect data on how space affects the human body. 

They have also been tasked with chores on board including swapping out a urine processing pump, as well as taking an inventory of food supplies onboard.

Wilmore, 61, was tasked with servicing a pair of freezers used to hold research samples as well as refilling the coolant in one of the station's water pumps. 

Wilmore, left, and Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner 

The capsule blasted off from Florida atop a United Launch Alliance Atlast V rocket on June 5, with NASA saying a few hours later that the capsule had sprung two leaks 

Prior to the flight, Williams said that she was aware that the nature of the test flight meant that her and Wilmore might have to improvise. 

She said: 'We do anticipate everything's going to go as planned. But if it doesn't, we'll take a moment and analyze it and talk about it, and we'll be okay. 

'So our confidence in the mission is high. I'm not complaining that we're here for a couple extra weeks.'

According to the Washington Post they had a scare last month when a satellite broke apart at an altitude near the station, posing a threat. 

The two jumped inside the Starliner capsule and prepared to undock in case debris from the satellite hit the station, prompting an evacuation. 

The debris ended up passing by the station without incident and the crew resumed operations. 

Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who spent nearly a year on the station, said that two others onboard would deplete food and cause the air supply to work harder. 

Veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and commander Butch Wilmore (right) prior to departure on June 5

Starliner is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, April 16, 2024 

Speaking with the post, Kelly said: 'They're going to put a little bit of a strain on that.  On the other hand, there are four extra hands to do more work. 

'And there always seems to be a lot of work to be done up there. So that's a positive.

'It's spaceflight, it's risky, it's dangerous. Stuff can go wrong. But you've got to trust the hardware and the people, and I'm confident they're going to be fine.'

Boeing and NASA officials first noticed issues with the Starliner even before it took off with the astronauts earlier this month.

It has faced years of delays, setbacks and added expenses that have cost Boeing more than $1billion, CNN reports.

Starliner was then set to launch on May 6, but teams detected a valve leaking helium and scrubbed the mission.

Engineers suspected that the issue came from a defective rubber seal the size of a shirt button, and said that even if the leak worsens, it could be managed in flight - and set the next launch for June 1.

During the flight Wilmore and Williams (pictured) were informed that the shuttle had developed two new helium leaks 

The crew has enough food rations for at  least four months on the International Space Station

NASA astronauts Suni Williams (bottom left) and Butch Wilmore (bottom right) are seen here after safely arriving aboard the International Space Station 

However, Starliner was again plagued with misfortunate when the capsule was automatically halted with minutes to go before liftoff by a computer-abort system.

The postponement was triggered by computers on the Atlas V rocket's launchpad that coordinate the final moments before liftoff, but the Starliner capsule appeared healthy, officials said.

Engineers last week completed testing on a spare thruster in the New Mexico desert and will rip it apart to try to understand what went wrong ahead of the Starliner's docking. 

The team will test-fire the capsule's thrusters this weekend while docked to the space station to gather more data, said Boeing's Mark Nappi.

Each of the 28 maneuvering thrusters can fit in a hand and weighs 2 pounds (1 kilogram). 

The capsule is also outfitted with bigger engines for dropping out of orbit at flight's end. All these are part of a segment that is discarded before landing, which means nothing to study for future flights.

After the space shuttles retired, NASA hired private companies for astronaut rides to the space station, paying Boeing and SpaceX billions of dollars.