Major update on two NASA astronauts stranded in space on ISS after Boeing Starliner malfunctions
After their evacuation has been postponed, two astronauts who are currently stranded on the International Space Station will likely remain there for an extended period of time.
After NASA pushed back their fight home, Americans Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore won’t be able to resume a stable life until late March at the latest.
That means their eight-day trip to space will turn into a whopping nine months in zero gravity after first rocketing up to the heavens in June.
The pair travelled to the ISS for a test mission, but their return was extended by eight months after the Boeing Starliner capsule they arrived on was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.
According to NASA, Wilmore and Williams will now return along with Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and fellow astronaut Nick Hague.
It is now not anticipated that the Crew-10 mission will depart in late March, but the foursome will return home when it arrives at the space station.
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The launch of four new crew members, Crew-10, to the International Space Station using what NASA refers to as SpaceX’s “human space transportation system” requires further planning, the agency says.
NASA said they and SpaceX assessed various options for managing the next crewed handover, including using another Dragon spacecraft and manifest adjustments.
They stated: “After careful consideration, the team determined that launching Crew-10 in late March, following completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, was the best option for meeting NASA’s requirements and achieving space station objectives for 2025.”
According to NASA, the postponement was necessary to allow the teams to finish preparing a new Dragon spacecraft for the trip.
“A new spacecraft’s fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration are laborious processes that demand meticulous attention to detail,” stated Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew.
“We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight.”
The government did not provide a precise date for the astronauts’ return.
Initially, the Crew-10 mission was scheduled to launch in February.
More than three months after Williams and Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov entered the ISS in September.
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