Stranded astronauts' hours are numbered; fuel running out to return to Earth –

Boeing's first trip to outer space won't be all that fun, with Starliner astronauts stranded on the International Space Station.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams were scheduled to return to Earth on June 13, but a series of malfunctions aboard a Boeing Starliner prevented them from doing so.

He now hopes that the new date, July 2, will be appropriate to separate the ship from the International Space Station, and thus return to the planet again.

But this is not certain either, as there are still certain things that need to be fixed on the said ship.

Astronauts' return window closes due to fuel shortage
The biggest problem that astronauts stranded on the International Space Station face is running out of fuel and closing the return window.

The Harmony module of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which is docked on the International Space Station, has enough fuel to last 45 days; The stranded astronauts are about to complete a month in space.

This means they will have about 15 actual days to get back to Earth, otherwise they will stay there until someone comes for them.

So they hope that on July 2nd they will finally be able to land without problems from a mission that lasted a few days.

Although the flight on the Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station was smooth, problems arose upon reaching space.

After liftoff, it was discovered that the Starliner had 5 helium leaks in the propulsion system; not only that, in subsequent analysis, 5 more leaks were found in the control system.

This is what left astronauts stuck in space, as it is dangerous to return to Earth with such defects.

The strange thing about this issue is that Starliner had already presented a series of problems before its launch, with flaws in its software and defective parts.

Regarding the issue, NASA points out that if the worst-case scenario occurs and the astronauts remain in space, the International Space Station has sufficient supplies to maintain them.