Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard the Starliner, are still at the station. It became known that their return to Earth had again been postponed to better prepare the new Dragon capsule for launch.
The comeback has been postponed again
Two NASA astronauts who have been stuck in space since June due to technical problems will have to stay on the International Space Station even longer than previously thought. The mission, which was supposed to last just eight days, could stretch to more than nine months.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the station with the Starliner spacecraft as crew members on its first flight. However, the test was not very successful and the capsule, for safety reasons, had to be sent back to Earth without them. It was planned to return them and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to Earth as part of the Crew-10 mission in February.
However, it has now become known that the start of this mission is postponed until at least the end of March. According to representatives of NASA and SpaceX, this is due to the fact that a brand new Dragon capsule will be used to return astronauts to Earth. Therefore, it is better to give ground teams more time to prepare for its launch.
Is everything going to be okay?
At first sight, such a delay would seem to indicate that something is wrong again in a mission that has already been going wrong for many months. However, it’s all about making Williams and Wilmore’s return to Earth as safe as possible.
As experts assure, the extended stay of astronauts in orbit will not affect their health. In November, two spaceships with supplies were sent to them. This made it possible not only to provide the ISS with everything it needed but also to allow them to celebrate Christmas in space.
Provided by phys.org
