Nasa issues urgent update on astronauts stranded on International Space Station

They were only supposed to be up there a week

Two astronauts went to the space station almost 50 days ago as part of a test of Boeing’s Starliner capsule.

The spacecraft was plagued by problems before and after its launch and since then, engineers have delayed its return meaning the astronauts are stuck.

Nasa confirmed on Wednesday that the work is still not finished, and the space agency are unable to give a date for the astronauts to come back.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, test pilots, were supposed to visit the ISS for around a week and return in mid-June but thruster failures and helium leaks on their capsule forced Nasa to make the decision to keep them up there longer.

Nasa’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said: “We’ll come home when we’re ready.”

He added that the plan is still to bring the two astronauts back aboard the Starliner but that the agency is looking into other options in case that’s not possible.

Initially, Nasa had said that the spacecraft would be safe for a 45 day stay but they have now exceeded that time frame.

Now, the space agency has claimed that it will be safe for Wilmore and Williams to stay for double that estimated length of time.

When the spacecraft goes into full usage it is approved to stay for as long as 21 days.

Engineers completed testing last week on a spare thruster in the New Mexico desert to try to understand what went wrong during docking.

Five thrusters failed as the capsule approached the space station on June 6, a day after lift-off with four being reactivated since the incident.

Nasa now hire private companies such as Boeing and SpaceX to transport its astronauts since its space shuttles retired.

This was Boeing’s first test flight with a crew on board.