Two US astronauts stranded for months on the Worldwide Area Station will stay there at the least till late March, NASA mentioned Tuesday because it introduced one other delay within the mission to deliver them residence.
Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived on the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, and had been resulting from spend eight days on the orbiting laboratory.
However issues arose with the Starliner’s propulsion system through the flight there, so NASA opted for a giant change in plans.
One other day, one other sleigh ⛄️❄️@NASA_Astronauts Don Pettit and Suni Williams pose for a enjoyable vacation season portrait whereas talking on a ham radio contained in the @Space_Station‘s Columbus laboratory module. pic.twitter.com/C1PtjkUk7P
— NASA’s Johnson Area Middle (@NASA_Johnson) December 16, 2024
After weeks of intensive exams on the Starliner, the area company determined to return it to Earth with out its crew, and to deliver the 2 stranded astronauts again residence with the members of a SpaceX mission referred to as Crew-9.
Crew-9’s two astronauts arrived on the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all 4 to return residence in February 2025.
However NASA mentioned Tuesday that Crew-10, which might relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no sooner than March 2025, and each groups would stay on board for a “handover period.”
“The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission,” NASA mentioned in a weblog publish.
NASA’s SpaceX #Crew10 now’s concentrating on no sooner than late March 2025 to launch 4 crew members to @Space_Station.
The change offers NASA and SpaceX time to finish processing on a brand new Dragon spacecraft for the mission, set to reach in early January: https://t.co/3y1zvsyGMr pic.twitter.com/wJxfV89SAR
— NASA Business Crew (@Commercial_Crew) December 17, 2024
The underside line is that Wilmore and Williams will spend greater than 9 months in area, relatively than eight days as initially deliberate.
SpaceX, the personal firm based by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying common missions each six months to permit the rotation of ISS crews.
© Agence France-Presse
