Boeing denied reports on Wednesday that two NASA astronauts were "stranded" on the International Space Station due to problems with the Starliner spacecraft. The first manned mission of the long-delayed vehicle has been postponed again.

Last week, NASA and Boeing decided to postpone the return flight of the spacecraft, which has been docked at the ISS since June 6, for the second time to an unspecified date in July.

Boeing emphasized that Starliner is "working well" and that astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore could return to Earth at any time if necessary.

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"The delay comes at a particularly inopportune time for Boeing, as the company continues to struggle with controversies over the safety culture in its commercial aerospace division.

Just this month, Dave Calhoun, the outgoing CEO of Boeing, had to address the U.S. Senate regarding the company's safety deficiencies after a door panel of a 737 Max aircraft tore off during a flight in January.

Since the two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, which claimed the lives of 346 people, Boeing has been in a near-permanent state of crisis.

The company's defense and space business is also struggling financially and recorded losses of $1.7 billion last year.

The Starliner program itself is several years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. The first manned flight of the spacecraft had already been postponed twice before it launched on June 5.

The company stressed, however, that the delayed return does not constitute a failure. "It is a test flight," said Boeing. "The mission is still ongoing and it is going well.

NASA hopes that Starliner will eventually become a serious competitor to Elon Musk's SpaceX for cargo and crew flights to the ISS and eventually to the Moon.

The US agency decided to delay the return of the astronauts in order to allow some time between the flight and the upcoming spacewalks of other astronauts on the space station. These had also been postponed due to issues with old spacesuits.

The delay also gives engineers more time to address issues identified during Starliner's flight to the ISS, according to NASA.

Starliner faced helium leaks and issues with five of its engines during its long-awaited first crewed flight. Boeing stated that the helium leaks have been fixed and all but one of the engines are now operational.

However, it was decided to invest more time in analyzing the causes of the problems, as they concern the service module, which will not return to Earth. This data would be lost upon return, so "we take the time to further understand the issues," Boeing explained.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said last Friday that the agency is "letting the data drive decision-making" with regard to the helium leaks and engine issues. Starliner is "performing well in orbit while docked to the space station," he added.