he astronauts that remained stuck on the International Space Station might just have to extend their stay. The NASA astronauts who got into space on the first crewed
mission of the Beoing Starliner should have gotten into a 10-day trip in June that due to some technical difficulties encountered with the spaceship, left them stranded on the ISS.
The astronauts that went on the initial mission were Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, which came on the Starliner that was sent back to Earth empty two months later. Their initial stay was extended till February next year, however, it seems that they will extend their stay until late March or even in April.
NASA stated “The International Space Station recently received two resupply flights in November and is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing, and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform.".
It’s also worth noting that most space missions last six months, and only a few of them reach a full year. So, according to Dr. Simeon Barber from the Open University already said that the extraction of the mission will do them no harm.
Saying “I'm sure that they are already disappointed that they were going to miss Christmas back home with the folks. But this is only another two months on an already quite long mission, and I'm sure if you ask them, I'm sure they would tell you that the space station is where they love to be,".
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Nasa’s next crew mission for the ISS was supposed to return in February 2025. They should have been returning home with the capsule that carried Butch and Suni home as well as Nick Hague from NASA and Aleksandr Gorbonov, Roscosmos astronaut as part of their usual crew rotation.
Yet, the delay is due to SpaceX as the company is preparing a new Dragon capsule for the mission. The flight is ready no earlier than late March, getting NASA to also consider using another SpaceX capsule. However, NASA decided that the best option was to wait for the new capsule for transport.
By
Raluca Matei
•
December 19, 2024 11:10 AM
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