NASA said Thursday it will decide this weekend whether Boeing’s new capsule is safe enough to return two astronauts from the International Space Station, where they’ve been waiting since June.

Administrator Bill Nelson and other top officials will meet Saturday. An announcement is expected from Houston once the meeting ends.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner on June 5. The test flight quickly encountered thruster failures and helium leaks so serious that NASA kept the capsule parked at the station as engineers debated what to do.

SpaceX could retrieve the astronauts, but that would keep them up there until next February. They were supposed to return after a week or so at the station.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    That’s why you always pack more underwear than you think you will need.

    Come to think of it, how do astronauts do laundry?

    Edit: I looked it up. They don’t. Dirty laundry is ejected into space to burn up on re-entry. So these poor travelers probably did not pack for an 8 month trip.