(NewsNation) — Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will hold a news conference from orbit Friday to speak to the public for the time in two months.
Originally set to embark on an eight-day mission, Wilmore and Williams will now be remaining on the International Space Station until February after the Boeing Starliner craft they went to space in returned to Earth without them. The decision to have the capsule return empty came after weeks of delays and technical difficulties with the capsule that occurred while it was in space.
Starliner launched in June after years of delays and multiple scrubbed launch attempts for its first crewed test flight. NASA and Boeing discovered a helium leak prior to launch but ultimately decided to launch anyway and monitor the issue.
After launch, other helium leaks were found on the capsule’s service module, and Starliner experienced thruster problems when docking with the ISS. NASA extended the crew’s time on the ISS as they worked to troubleshoot the problems and determine if it was safe for the crew to return on the vessel.
Ultimately, NASA decided to bring Starliner home without a crew on board, a decision that could potentially impact whether it’s certified for future crewed missions. Starliner made the autonomous return journey successfully but did experience thruster problems and a brief blackout of its guidance system during reentry.
Wilmore and Williams are having an unexpectedly long stay on the ISS as a result. SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, postponed until September to accommodate Starliner’s difficulties, will now launch with two crew members instead of the originally planned four.
After Crew-9’s mission is complete in February, Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride home on the Crew Dragon capsule, nearly eight months after they first launched.
Starliner’s issues come as another blow to Boeing, which is under scrutiny for safety and quality concerns following a series of high-profile issues with its commercial planes. The company also reached a plea agreement with the Justice Department to avoid criminal charges related to two crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing officials backed out of a planned news conference with NASA following Starliner’s return and have not commented on the project’s future.