NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remain upbeat about Boeing’s Starliner capsule, even as technical glitches have stretched their ISS stay into a real-life space drama. Originally scheduled for an 8-day mission, their return is now targeted for late July. 💫
Confidence in the Capsule
\"I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,\" Williams said during a livestreamed press conference, channeling major Gravity vibes (minus the catastrophe, thankfully). The duo praised the Starliner’s redundancy systems, with Wilmore adding: \"We’ve got thrusters, backups, and a whole team grinding to get us back.\"
The Road Ahead
Engineers at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range are recreating the thruster issues using new hardware. While five thrusters failed during docking, four have since rebooted. Boeing’s Mark Nappi called the situation a \"learning opportunity\" — tech-speak for \"we’re figuring this out.\"
This mission marks Starliner’s first crewed test flight after a decade of development. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has been NASA’s taxi since 2020, but officials confirm there’s no backup rescue plan involving Elon Musk’s team. 🚨
