Two NASA astronauts may be stuck in space at the International Space Station until 2025 because of issues with the Boeing Starliner, which can’t make re-entry because of helium leaks and thruster failures.
In fact the astronauts may need to depend on Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring them home next year.
Here’s more on this from The Blaze:
Boeing astronauts are still stranded at the International Space Station, and the timeline for their return is becoming more unclear as time passes.
Blaze News previously reported on aerospace and defense corporation Boeing and its launch of the Starliner spacecraft in early June 2024.
A mission to the ISS by crew members Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams was initially slated to return to Earth in as few as eight days after launch. The mission failed even within a generous grace period, and it has been over eight weeks since the vessel was launched into space.
With a return date up in the air, speculation had begun about how the astronauts would return home after it was revealed that helium leaks and thruster failures were hindering the Starliner and preventing its re-entry.
As TMZ reported, NASA says the astronauts may need to make their return on the Dragon Crew-9 mission operated by rival company SpaceX, headed by Elon Musk.
Crew-9 was initially meant to launch for the ISS on August 18, 2024, but has since been pushed back to no earlier than September 24, 2024, per Spaceflight Now.
With that in mind, most reports suggest SpaceX’s six-month mission will not return until at least February 2025, but given the delayed start time, it could also be March 2025. This would potentially extend Boeing’s mission from approximately two weeks to about nine or ten months.
Despite previous uncertainty as to whether or not Starliner would be relying on SpaceX for a return mission, NASA has clarified that the SpaceX launch delay is directly related to the Boeing mission.
“This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory,” NASA stated.
Fox News corresponden
t Lucas Tomlinson just reminded everyone a few minutes ago who the chair is for the National Space Council:
Kamala Harris. Now granted this failure may not exactly fall under her job description, per the White House description, but it is an interesting coincidence given the circumstances.
NASA is still deciding if their astronauts can even return on the Boeing Starliner; they will decide soon by mid-August. If Elon Musk’s SpaceX team has to rescue these astronauts, Boeing will once again have egg on its face.
https://therightscoop.com/two-nasa-astronauts-may-be-stuck-in-space-until-2025-and-youll-never-guess-who-chairs-the-national-space-council/
No comments:
Post a Comment