NASA postpones return of stranded Starliner astronauts to March
NASA has it again postpone the return to Earth of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, Astronauts stranded on the International Space Station Later Boeing’s Starliner capsule malfunctions in the middle of this year.
The spacecraft’s crew arrived at the ISS in June. The goal was to test the Starliner’s comprehensive capabilities, including launch, docking and reentry systems. The mission is expected to last a week. Five of the ship’s 28 thrusters failed before docking with the ISS. Boeing claims that its technology can ensure the safe return of astronauts. However, NASA was skeptical and concluded that the risk was too high. The agency has assigned the task to SpaceX.
Elon Musk’s company launched the Crew-9 mission in September to bring back Williams and Wilmore, among other missions. Until now, the astronauts’ stalling has been planned back in February on the Crew Dragon rocket. However, NASA has announced that it expects the expedition to return to Earth’s surface following the arrival of Crew-10, as early as late March 2025.
The adjustment will allow SpaceX and NASA engineers to complete development of the new Dragon spacecraft, which will be delivered to the company’s Florida facility early next month.
“Building, assembling, testing and final integrating a new spacecraft is a painstaking, demanding effort,” Steve Stich, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement. requires extreme attention to detail. team expands the Dragon fleet to support our missions and the flexibility of our station program and expedition teams as we work together to perfect the flight readiness of the new capsule. ”
NASA said the Crew-9 and Crew-10 crews must complete a “handover period,” during which ISS residents share experiences and knowledge with new arrivals. This process ensures proper execution of scientific experiments on board and maintenance of the orbital complex.
NASA and SpaceX experts have evaluated several options for coordinating the next crew delivery. According to the agency’s press release, it determined that a March launch for Crew-10 is “the best option to meet NASA requirements and achieve space station goals by 2025”.
A long way
The ISS received two resupply flights in November, ensuring crew members had enough food, water, clothing and oxygen. However, some experts have warned of potential health risks for Wilmore and Williams after more than nine months in space.
The scientific community has been studying the effects of spaceflight on the human body since the 1970s. In the years since the first moon landing, it conditions have been determined such as loss of bone mass, weakened heart function, vision problems and the development of kidney stones.
A recent study by University College London disclose that the structure and function of the kidneys can also be permanently damaged, although this is especially severe in cases where astronauts are too far from Earth, which does not happen on the ISS.
NASA points out that ISS expedition crews typically have extended stays, an average of six months. It added that some astronauts have carried out missions lasting up to a year to contribute to research on human adaptation to spaceflight, with the aim of exploring the moon and Mars in the future.
This story originally appeared on WIRED in Spain and has been translated from Spanish.
