It sounds just like the pitch for a creepy science-fiction or horror film: Two astronauts are stranded on an area station, and their spacecraft — with no crew — leaves them there and returns to Earth.
That is the situation that unfolded late Friday when Boeing’s Starliner capsule left astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore on the Worldwide House Station and efficiently landed at White Sands House Harbor in New Mexico.
However for the 2 seasoned astronauts caught on the ISS, the state of affairs is not practically as Hollywood-scary as it’d sound. Let’s break it down.
Who’re the astronauts?
Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, are veteran astronauts, each naval officers and former check pilots. Williams has been a NASA astronaut since 1998, and Wilmore since 2000. Each have loads of expertise in house.
Williams is the previous file holder for many spacewalks by a lady (seven) and most spacewalk time for a lady (50 hours, 40 minutes), and in 2007, she ran the primary marathon by any particular person in house.
In 2009, Wilmore piloted the House Shuttle Atlantis on its mission to the ISS, and in 2014, he was a part of the ISS crew that used a 3D printer to fabricate a device — a ratchet wrench — in house, the primary time people manufactured one thing off-world.
What’s their mission in house?
Wilmore, as commander, and Williams, as pilot, traveled to the ISS on a 15-foot-wide, Boeing-made capsule referred to as Starliner. They launched on June 5 and docked with the ISS on June 6. NASA hopes Starliner will give the group a brand new strategy to get crews to and from the ISS, and the truth that it is Boeing-made is one other signal that NASA is beginning to lean on the non-public sector for its human spaceflight choices, The New York Occasions reported.
Wilmore and Williams’ ISS mission was alleged to final a mere eight days, throughout which they’d check out facets of Starliner and see the way it operates with a human crew in house. However attributable to problems with Starliner, the 2 astronauts are nonetheless up there and will not be again earlier than 2025. They’ve stored busy — working with the ISS Expedition 71 crew to carry out analysis and upkeep actions, NASA said.
How did they get caught in house?
The Starliner was delayed in Could attributable to an issue with a valve within the rocket. Then engineers needed to repair a helium leak. That is all dangerous information for Boeing, which is competing with SpaceX, which has been transporting astronauts to the ISS since 2020, making over 20 profitable journeys to the house station.
Starliner lastly launched, atop an Atlas V rocket, on June 6, however some issues got here together with it. NASA introduced that three helium leaks have been recognized, one in every of which was recognized earlier than flight, and two new ones. Along with the leaks, the crew needed to troubleshoot failed management thrusters, although the craft was in a position to efficiently dock with the ISS.
SpaceX has had failures too. A Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad in 2016. In July, a Falcon 9 rocket skilled a liquid oxygen leak and deployed its satellites within the incorrect orbit, The New York Occasions reported. And a Falcon 9 rocket final week misplaced a first-stage booster when it toppled over into the Atlantic Ocean and caught fire.
However that mentioned, SpaceX has greater than 300 profitable Falcon 9 flights to its credit score.
The astronauts are protected
NASA has been fast to report that the astronauts aren’t at risk, nor are they completely caught.
“There isn’t any rush to deliver (the) crew residence,” NASA said in an announcement final month. “This can be a lesson realized from the house shuttle Columbia accident. Our NASA and Boeing groups are poring over information from extra in-space and floor testing and evaluation, offering mission managers information to make one of the best, most secure resolution on how and when to return crew residence.”
On Aug. 24, a choice was reached.
When and the way are the astronauts coming residence?
NASA mentioned on Aug. 24 that it had determined to return Starliner to Earth and not using a crew, and the spacecraft landed safely in New Mexico on Sept. 6.
Wilmore and Williams can be introduced residence residence on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft early subsequent yr.
“Wilmore and Williams will proceed their work formally as a part of the Expedition 71/72 crew by way of February 2025,” the house company said in an announcement. “They’ll fly residence aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two different crew members assigned to the company’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.”
That mission will launch no prior to Sept. 24, NASA mentioned. 4 crew members have been initially scheduled to be on board at launch, however two will now keep behind to make room for Wilmore and Williams’ return journey.
“Spaceflight is dangerous, even at its most secure and most routine,” NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson mentioned in an announcement on Aug. 24. “A check flight, by nature, is neither protected, nor routine. The choice to maintain Butch and Suni aboard the Worldwide House Station and produce Boeing’s Starliner residence uncrewed is the results of our dedication to security: our core worth and our North Star.”
What are the astronauts saying?
The astronauts aren’t panicking.
“We’re having a good time right here on ISS,” Williams mentioned in a news conference held from orbit in July. “I am not complaining. Butch is not complaining that we’re up right here for a few additional weeks.”
And regardless of the Starliner issues, Wilmore appears optimistic concerning the craft.
“The spacecraft carried out unbelievably nicely,” he mentioned, though noting that the thruster issues of the second day have been apparent. “You may inform the thrust management, the aptitude was degraded,” he mentioned.
On Aug. 24, Norman Knight, the chief of NASA’s flight director workplace, mentioned he’d spoken with the 2 astronauts concerning the resolution to return them on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon early subsequent yr, The New York Occasions reported.
“They help the company’s resolution absolutely,” Knight mentioned, in response to the Occasions, “and so they’re able to proceed this mission onboard ISS.”
