NASA has prolonged Boeing’s Starliner capsule’s stay at the International Space Station from the originally planned 9 days to now at least until June 22nd.
This extension allows for additional testing of Starliner’s capabilities to help prepare it for future 6-month crewed missions to the ISS.
The crew of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will perform additional tests like hatch operations, “safe haven” testing, and piloting using the capsule’s windows.
Boeing and NASA want to maximize the opportunity for learning while the Starliner is docked at the ISS, given the delays the program has faced over the past years.
The extension doubles the length of the mission and allows for more data collection which is valuable for the testing and certification process of Starliner.
This is Boeing’s first crewed test flight for its commercial crew program to transport astronauts, following delays and a previous uncrewed test failure in 2019.
Source: The Hill
