With the economy collapsing, geopolitical tensions threatening outright war, and an historic election on the horizon, one could be forgiven for missing one of the more interesting and portentous stories unfolding in the news-namely, the fact that two NASA astronauts seem to be stranded on the International Space Station as a result of the legendary incompetence of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
With two NASA astronauts still stranded in space for weeks, officials at the space agency have insisted that the troubled Boeing Starliner, plagued with technical issues, can take the two explorers back to Earth.
"Of course they don't feel comfortable putting them in the vehicle," the retired astronaut told the magazine, referring to the Starliner, which transported the astronauts to the International Space Station back in June and is meant to return them back home.
The idea of the Starliner was to develop a spacecraft and space capsule capable of taking astronauts and space tourists alike to the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit.
Numerous failures, billions of dollars, and years later, the Starliner managed to dock successfully in an unmanned mission to the International Space Station in May 2022.
As of the time of this writing, it is August 6th, and the Starliner has still not returned, leaving two astronauts effectively stranded on the International Space Station on account of thruster problems, helium leakages, and a whole host of other difficulties.
On Boeing's side, we have a decade-long multibillion-dollar failure to even accomplish a successful crewed round trip to the International Space Station in low-earth orbit.
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