NASA Says Two Starliner Astronauts Stranded on the ISS Will Return in February
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, the two astronauts stranded in the Inernational Space Station. Photo: X/ @JimBobW49
August 24, 2024 Hour: 6:32 pm
NASA said on Saturday that the two astronauts from the first manned mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), who have been stranded there for 80 days after the spacecraft failed, will return in February 2025 on a SpaceX spacecraft.
Astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams were due to return to Earth in mid-June, about a week after their launch from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, but failure of the thrusters and small helium leaks on the Starliner prevented his return.
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The announcement comes after an “agency-level review” on Saturday that included Bill Nelson, the agency administrator, who said that “Boeing has worked very hard with Nasa to get the necessary data to make this decision. We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.”
“Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine, and a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine, and so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety,” Nelson added.
Nelson confirmed that both austronauts “will return home in a Dragon ship with two other crew members assigned to the mission of the agency Crew-9 of SpaceX”, says a statement from NASA, which estimates that the Starliner will make a “Controlled, autonomous safe return and landing in early September”.
The SpaceX mission is expected to depart from the Kennedy Space Center on September 24; it was originally intended to carry four people but will take two to seat stranded astronauts, who will join their duties over the next few months.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: The Guardia // EFE