NASA and SpaceX have agreed to replace the capsules of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. This will avoid additional delays to the launch of the Crew-10 expedition to the ISS and the return to Earth of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been in orbit for more than eight months, while their space mission was originally supposed to last only eight days. The fact is that the astronauts were part of the first crew of the Starliner spacecraft. Due to engine problems, NASA did not risk using it to return astronauts to Earth. As a result, Wilmore and Williams remained aboard the ISS and became part of its crew.
Wilmore and Williams were scheduled to return to Earth in February 2025 after the arrival of the replacement Crew-10 mission to the ISS. However, the flight had to be postponed to March due to delays encountered during assembly and testing of the new Crew Dragon spacecraft. Moreover, there was a significant possibility that the launch of Crew-10 would again be postponed to an even later date.
The astronauts’ extended stay on the ISS became a political issue after Elon Musk wrote on the social media network he owns, X, that President Trump had instructed him to bring Wilmore and Williams home as soon as possible, blaming the Biden administration for their prolonged space trip. At the same time, Musk said nothing about the fact that the reason for the latest delays was the Crew Dragon’s unpreparedness for flight.
As a result, NASA and SpaceX decided to castling to avoid the risk of further delays. Crew-10 will use the Endurance capsule, which has already flown into space. It was originally reserved for the Ax-4 private mission. This will make it possible to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth in March. Crew-10 is currently scheduled to launch on March 12. In turn, the Ax-4 launch will be rescheduled for a later date.
It’s worth noting that in an interview with CBS News that aired on February 7, Suni Williams denied that she felt “pretty much abandoned” at the station. “I don’t think I’ve been abandoned. I don’t think we’re stuck here,” the astronaut said. “We have food. We have clothes. We will be taken home in case something really bad happens to the ISS.”
Earlier we reported about Boeing risking losing its NASA contract due to new Starliner faults.
According to Spacenews
