NASA has chosen Elon Musk’s SpaceX to carry Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore again from house subsequent 12 months. The 2 astronauts arrived on the Worldwide House Station 80 days in the past aboard Boeing’s Starliner for what was imagined to be an 8-day mission. Nevertheless, as a result of important technical points with the Boeing capsule, their keep needed to be prolonged.
The astronauts are anticipated to return in February subsequent 12 months after spending eight months in orbit. They are going to return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch subsequent month as a part of a routine astronaut rotation mission.
Butch and Suni will proceed to contribute to @ISS_Research aboard the station earlier than heading residence in a @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Examine their work to this point: https://t.co/zy3B0KXzEP
Observe our blogs for the most recent @Space_Station and #Starliner updates: https://t.co/M7G4xLhChJ pic.twitter.com/0wX2xeom9V
— NASA (@NASA) August 24, 2024
In accordance with studies, NASA chief Invoice Nelson acknowledged that Starliner’s propulsion system is just too dangerous to soundly carry its first crew again to Earth. In consequence, Starliner will undock from the ISS with none crew on board and try to return to Earth as it could have if astronauts had been aboard.
NASA’s choice to decide on Boeing’s high house rival, SpaceX, dealt a brand new blow to the Starliner check mission. Boeing had aimed for this mission to revive the struggling program, which has confronted years of improvement points and over $1.6 billion in price range overruns since 2016.
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission is ready to launch in late September, however it should carry solely two passengers as a substitute of the initially deliberate 4.
It would keep docked on the ISS till its scheduled return in February, bringing again its crew members together with their two stranded colleagues.
On June 5, the veteran NASA astronauts, each former army check pilots, turned the primary crew to journey aboard Starliner after they had been launched to the ISS.
