United States – A test space flight of a new vehicle produced by the American company Boeing landed at the International Space Station, before one of its six engines failed on June 6.
The flight, which was carrying two astronauts, was scheduled to last eight days before returning to Earth, but an engine failure has kept the astronauts stuck inside the International Space Station until today.
On Saturday, NASA announced in a press conference that it had assigned the mission to return the astronauts to SpaceX, headed by American billionaire Elon Musk.
The agency said that the expected date for the astronauts to return to Earth will be next February, meaning that the trip, which was supposed to take 8 days, will now take 8 months in space.
The astronauts are Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, and Sunita “Sunny” Williams, 58, both veteran astronauts who have made several trips to space over the years.
Both astronauts are former Navy officers and test pilots, with Wilmore a NASA astronaut since 2000 and Williams since 1998, and both have extensive space experience.
Williams previously held the record for the most spacewalks by a woman (seven), and the most spacewalk time by a woman (50 hours and 40 minutes).
In 2009, Wilmore commanded the space shuttle Atlantis on its mission to the International Space Station, and in 2014 he was part of an ISS crew that used a 3D printer to manufacture a tool – a wrench – in space, the first time humans had made something off-world.
What is their mission?
Wilmore, as commander, and Williams, as pilot, flew to the International Space Station in a 15-foot-wide Boeing capsule called Starliner.
The flight launched on June 5 and arrived at the International Space Station the next day. NASA had hoped that the Starliner would provide a new way to transport crews to and from the station.
That it is made by Boeing is another sign that NASA is beginning to rely on the private sector for human spaceflight options, The New York Times reported.
Wilmore and Williams’ mission to the International Space Station was supposed to last only eight days, during which they would test aspects of Starliner and see how it works with a human crew in space.
The Starliner flight was delayed in May due to a problem with a valve in the rocket, and engineers then had to fix a helium leak before the flight could take off on June 5, a bad accident for Boeing.
Boeing is competing with SpaceX, which has been transporting astronauts to the International Space Station since 2020, having made more than 20 successful flights to the station.
Finally, Starliner launched on an Atlas V rocket on June 5, but there were some problems. NASA announced that three helium leaks were identified in one of the engines, one of which was known before the flight, and two of which were new.
In addition to the leaks, the crew had to troubleshoot the control engines, although the spacecraft was able to successfully dock with the International Space Station.
The astronauts are safe.
NASA was quick to announce that the astronauts were not in danger, and that they were not completely stuck.
“There is no rush to bring the crew home, a lesson learned from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident,” she said in a statement Saturday. “Our NASA and Boeing teams are examining the data.”
The disabled Starliner is expected to return to Earth by next September, without the astronauts, to avoid any risks that may arise to the spacecraft during its return trip.
While Wilmore and Williams will be returned to Earth aboard the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft by February, the earliest date that can be announced.
Anatolia
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2024-08-27 15:43:11
