Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’ mission was originally scheduled to last eight days. They have been stuck aboard the International Space Station since early June due to technical problems.
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NASA announced on Wednesday, August 14, that it would decide by the end of the month on the fate of the two astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The new Starliner spacecraft, built by Boeing, took off in early June with its first astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, and has since been docked to the ISS. It was originally supposed to bring them back to Earth eight days later, but problems detected in its propulsion system led NASA to question its reliability.
These concerns have also prompted NASA to consider a radical backup solution: sending the crew back in several months aboard another vehicle, namely a regular SpaceX mission. A decision-making committee is expected to meet “at the end of next week” Or “at the beginning of the next one”said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator. A decision is expected in the last week of August, “if not before”he added. If it is decided that Starliner is not safe enough, the ship would then return empty.
A SpaceX mission, named Crew-9, would take off in late September, carrying only two astronauts instead of four. It would remain docked to the ISS as planned until its return to Earth in February, with the two Boeing castaways. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would therefore spend eight months on the ISS, instead of eight days. “I spoke to them yesterday and they are doing very well.”reassured Joe Acaba, NASA’s chief astronaut.
