The space castaways held their first press conference since July on Friday…live from Earth’s orbit. For the first time, a time constraint was cited as the reason NASA refused to let Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore return to the spaceship. Starliner.
“We didn’t have enough time to get to the end of the runway [runway] “We’re not going to have enough time to do enough testing to ensure the safety of the vaccine,” Wilmore said, figuratively, to illustrate the lack of time to do enough testing to ensure the safety of the vaccine. Starliner.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in early June with the capsule Starliner for a planned two-week stay that will ultimately stretch into February. Before their departure, a helium leak postponed the launch. In orbit, other helium leaks were detected. Helium is used to pressurize fuel.
Additionally, 5 of the 28 rockets did not behave normally once the capsule was in orbit.
NASA then conducted various tests of the rockets in orbit, and then similar rockets were tested at the White Sands Laboratory in New Mexico, to try to reproduce the problem and therefore explain it.
Butch Wilmore said Friday that the International Space Station is not designed to house that many people at one time.
For operational reasons, it was necessary that Starliner leaves before the arrival of the new crew. The missions last six months.
“We managed it well for a few months, but the Station is not designed for this in the long term. So we had to make a decision based on this deadline: do we Starliner come back with us or without us? I think we would have reached the end of the runway if we had had more time, but we ran out of time.”
In other words, Mr. Wilmore believes that with further testing, NASA would have agreed that Starliner was safe and could bring the two astronauts back to Earth. The return of the unmanned spacecraft last Saturday went off without a hitch.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
The capsule Starliner after detaching from the International Space Station to return to Earth
Unexpected
In any case, Butch Wilmore remains philosophical. “Sometimes, the unexpected surpasses anything we could have imagined. That’s life when we always push things to their limits as we do. In space, it’s normal.”
Mme Williams is even more serene. “My husband and my mother told me: I love being in space. It’s my favorite place [happy place]. »
Mme Williams is looking forward to flying in Crew Dragon. “We are very happy [excited] to fly in two spaceships.”
We are test pilots. That’s what we do for a living. We wanted to bring back Starliner on Earth, but we turn the page and appreciate this new opportunity.
Suni Williams on returning to the ship Crew Dragon from SpaceX
Challenger And Columbia
To explain his decision to return uninhabited StarlinerNASA chief executive Bill Nelson cited the two lost space shuttles, Challenger on takeoff in 1986, Columbia upon landing in 2003.
Boeing decided at the last minute not to participate in the press conference after the return of Starliner and has not commented since. Analysts have suggested that the aerospace giant may be looking to exit the space business by handing over Starliner to another company.
Mme Williams and Mr. Wilmore will return in February with Crew Dragon of SpaceX. Boeing was competing with the Crew Dragon when NASA awarded the two companies contracts in 2014 worth more than US$7 billion to develop transportation for its astronauts.
After the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, NASA relied on Russian capsules Soyuz to get to and from the ISS. Crew Dragon has been flying since 2020.
Who are the two space castaways?
Suni Williams, 58
This physicist was a test pilot for 25 years and flew two missions to the International Space Station, setting a spacewalk record (44 hours) for a woman.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61
This electrical engineer was a fighter pilot in several conflicts and a test pilot. He went into space twice, including a mission to the International Space Station.
Quotes
I sent my application to vote remotely today. We should have it in a few weeks.
Suni Williams
I will find a better place to park my car next time.
Suni Williams
Eight days, eight months, nine months, ten months, we’re still going to do our best every day because that’s what the people who have our jobs do.
Butch Wilmore
My oldest daughter is a freshman at East Texas Baptist University. I wasn’t able to be with her this summer. But I tried to teach her the principles that are important and that challenges make us stronger.
Butch Wilmore
And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will rather boast of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Butch Wilmore, quoting the second letter to the Corinthians, to explain how his faith helps him overcome this ordeal
Learn more
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- 1 billion US
- Cost overrun on Starliner assumed by Boeing
Source : The Washington Post