Boeing Spacecraft Return Delayed: Sunita William and Butch Wilmore will face a delay in their return to the Earth again

Boeing Starliner Spacecraft (Photo - NASA)

The Boeing Starliner Spacecraft that was expected to return to Earth on June 22 will face a delay again. The Spacecraft was expected to undock from the space station and come home on June 18 but it got further delayed to June 22 due to technical issues.

Now there is one more update on delayed return got shared by NASA, where two astronauts Sunita William and Butch Wilmore coming from Boeing spacecraft are now expected to return at least July 2.

This delay in the return of the two astronauts is due to the helium leak the spacecraft is facing, the officials were aware of this technical issue but took it as a minor issue but later the spacecraft developed 4 more major helium leaks that caused concerns and led to the decision of doing this delay.
Further analysis is done that will determine the return of the spacecraft.

The docking of the spacecraft can be up to 45 days but if the issue isn't resolved in the meantime the time of docking may extend to even 72 days by relying on the backup system.

The mission was originally planned for eight days but got stretched up to a month making Boeing Starliner Spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) longer than anticipated.

Despite the issues faced by Boeing NASA has confidence in the performance of the spacecraft, However, criticism and questions on the ability of the spacecraft are still arising as the ongoing tests and issues raise concerns about completing its six-hour return trip.

Beyond the initial $4.5 billion deal it earned with NASA, Boeing has incurred cost overruns of about $1.5 billion. The propulsion system data and minor helium system leakage that were noticed throughout the rendezvous and docking process required the delay.