Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore thought they were taking off for a few weeks in space. Their mission was to try the new Starliner Boeing spacecraft and then go home. It wasn’t possible. Nine months later, NASA astronauts will finally return from the International Space Station on Earth next week if there are no other curtains.
Their relief is scheduled to start the ship SpaceX tonight (although the weather can change the plan) and arrive at the space station on Saturday. In today’s newsletter, I will explain how Williams and Wilmore have been stuck in orbit for so long – and why NASA decided not to return them before.
Puzzle
The saga started in June. Although NASA thought the mission would be short, the agency was cautious; He trained Williams and Wilmore to work and live at the Moon Space Station, just in case the flight was adept.
As Starliner approached the space station, some of his Thrusters stopped working for a while. Yet it was able to anchored. After several months of problem solving, space agency officials decided to play safely. Without astronauts they would bring Starliner back to the ground. (He landed without the incident in September.) But that meant that Williams and Wilmore needed another home ride. Think about it as a space version of recarging passengers after the cancellation of the flight.
It is not easy to be a NASA travel agency. The agency likes seven astronauts at a space station. It will replace four every six months. (Russia sends three astronauts at once.) When Williams and Wilmore held around, NASA was to take care of two more bodies.
Possibilities
NASA had three options:
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Place Williams and Wilmore on a four -seater SpaceX vessel that has already been anchored to the station and brought them home when the second crew missions ended. But that would mean delaying the return of two astronauts who were there, and stretched their stay for about a year.
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Start the SpaceX that will immediately bring home Williams and Wilmore. But with the other SpaceX Craft and its four astronauts, also departing at about the same time, it would leave the space station not under three astronauts. Hundreds of millions of dollars could cost a hurry to send spare astronauts and climb a plan for future crew rotation.
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Start another SpaceX mission in September with two astronauts instead of four. Then Williams and Wilmore could remain as part of the space station crew until February and on the way back would have space for them. Nine months is not a disproportionately long time to spend in orbit. Some astronauts spent a year or longer at a space station.
NASA selected No. 3, although the February pickup date slipped into the march, because SpaceX could not be prepared a new ship in time.
Astronauts spent their time at the Space Station for research, mostly studying what the absence of gravity was doing to the human body. The weightlessness reduces bone density. Astronauts work against practicing a few hours a day. Other experiments were looking for changes in the function of sight, heart health and brain.
Gambit
In January, President Trump and Elon Musk opened a new NASA debate. Accused the biden administration The fact that Williams and Wilmore left heartlessly. Now the President has asked Musk to save them as soon as possible. Musk later added that he offered that the astronauts had brought home months earlier, but that NASA refused him to avoid Trump’s allies.
But it is not known who Musk spoke to or exactly what he offered. Musk avoids interview with reporters and NASA officials have asked questions about him. It is said that they chose a plan that made the most sense.
For many, there is an unexpected nine -month stop in orbit, as if the trade route was terribly spoiled. But astronauts live in space and do not get many chances. Williams (59 years) and Wilmore, 62 years old, were there only twice in NASA within a quarter of a century.
In appearance today “The Daily”Williams has changed to how it could be her last trip from the planet. “You really really want to enjoy every piece of time you have here,” she said.
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