NASA’s “stuck” astronauts who are harvested earlier than expected

NASA Sunita astronauts “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have been at the International Space Station since June, although they initially expected to stay in only eight days. But now NASA can return the two astronauts home a few weeks earlier than expected.

Tuesday, The Space Agency said This is “accelerating target start and return dates for the upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station.” The earlier plans were to return the astronauts in late March, but now the agency astronaut group can start on March 12. After this crew reaches the ISS and fulfilled the requirements for the show, Williams, Wilmore, Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos Cosmonau Alexander Gorbunov can go to the land aboard Crew-9.

NASA Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers astronauts, a pilot; The Japanese Aerospace Agency Astronaut Takuya Onishi and Cosmonau Roskosmos Kiril Peskov, Mission specialist, to the ISS.

Read more: NASA’s first interactive flow shows how many astronauts love coffee

Record Spacewalk

But since their stay was extended, Williams set a record. She went to a 5-hour, 26-minute spacecraft with Wilmore and with this walk surpassed the record by a woman for a time spent in space paths. According to Space.comWilliams already has 62 hours and 6 minutes of space cost, exceeding former astronaut Peggy Whitson, who had 60 hours and 21 minutes.

On this most recent Spacewalk, the two worked to finally eliminate the defective radio communications compartment, one that astronauts of two previous space paths failed to eliminate.

Earlier Williams partnered with astronaut Nick Hag for space expense January 16S On this cosmic spots, Williams and Hag have replaced the installation of a gyroscope, which helps maintain orbital orbital orbital orb, NASA said. Astronauts also install patches to cover damaged areas of light filters on the Interior Neutron Star Explorer X -ray telescope, replaced the reflective device of one of the international tiding adapters, and checked the access areas and the connector tools that use the astronauts that astronauts. Magnetic spectrometer.

Trump and Musk

Astronauts are planned to go home in March. But this may not be fast enough for President Donald Trump.

“I just asked Elon Musk and Spacex to” go “the 2 brave astronauts who are practically abandoned in space by the Biden administration,” Trump wrote about social truth, According to the NPRS “Success Elon !!!”

Astronauts are far from abandoned. The delay was caused because NASA and Boeing engineers found problems with the spacecraft that brought astronauts into space, and chose to return this vehicle to Earth without crew.

And it is not clear what Musk can do, as the two are already planned to fly home on a capsule made by his company, SpaceX, and this capsule has already been moored on the ISS. So technically astronauts could go home at any time, but this will leave the space station with short personal and endangered projects. S

“In the end, we want to go home,” Williams said in Last press conferenceS “We left our families a while ago, but we have many things to do here and we have to do these things before we leave.”

“Life in space is super fun”

But Williams and Wilmore do not complain about their prolonged stay.

“I like everything in being here” said Williams In early December. “Life in space is super fun.”

Astronauts are busy, with Williams and Wilmore helping the rest of the ICS residents in space botany and other studies, According to the NASA blog of ISSS They have helped in more than 60 scientific studies in nearly six months on board, The Washington Post reportsS

Here’s what you need to know about what the two astronauts are doing.

Who are the astronauts?

Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, are veteran astronauts and are both naval officers and former test pilots. Williams has been an astronaut of NASA since 1998 and Wilmore since 2000. Both have a lot of experience in space.

Williams is the former record holder for most space paths from a woman (seven) and the most time for a woman’s space (50 hours, 40 minutes), and in 2007 she held the first marathon by every person in space.

In 2009, Wilmore piloted the ATLANTIS space shuttle at the ISS mission, and in 2014 he was part of the ISS team that uses a 3D tool to produce an instrument – a wrench – in space, for the first time people produce something outside The world.

What was their original mission in space?

Wilmore, as commander, and Williams, as a pilot, traveled to the ISS with a 15-foot capsule created by Boeing called Starliner. They started on June 5th and were toned with the ISS on June 6th. NASA hopes that Starliner will give the organization a new way to reach crews to and from the ISS, and the fact that it was created by Boeing is another sign that NASA is beginning to rest in the private sector for its space flight capabilities, The New York Times reportedS

The Wilmore and Williams mission of ISS was to last only eight days, during which they tested aspects of Starliner and see how it works with human crew in space. But due to complications with Starliner, the two astronauts are still up.

What do astronauts say?

Astronauts were positive about their experience. At a Live In September, Williams said that although he knew that their mission was planned to take only eight days, they both “trained for several years” for her. They are fully qualified to stay in space for an extended period of time and help piloting the Spacex Dragon spacecraft, which will bring them home next year.

“It’s very calm here,” Williams said on September 13, although she added that they miss their families on Earth.

Astronauts work on research, maintenance and analysis of data during their extended stay.

“We have a great time here on ISS,” Williams said At a press conference Conducted by orbit in July. “I’m not complaining. Butch doesn’t complain that we’re here for a few extra weeks.”

How did they get into space in the first place?

Thehe Starliner has slowed down In May due to a problem with a valve in the rocket. Then the engineers had to repair the leakage of helium. These are all the bad news about Boeing. It’s Compete with SpaceXwhich has been Transportation of astronauts to ISS Since 2020, by making over 20 successful trips to the space station.

Starliner finally started, on the Atlas V rocket, on June 5, but some problems came with it. NASA announced that Three leaks of helium have been identified, one of which was known before the flight and two new ones. In addition to the leaks, the crew had to remove unsuccessful controls, although the craft was able to successfully join the ISS.

SpaceX also has failures. A Falcon 9 rocket erupted Launchpad in 2016. In July this year, the Falcon 9 missile was a liquid oxygen and unfolded its satellites in the wrong orbit, New York Times reportedS And the Falcon 9 rocket at the end of August lost an amplifier in the first stage when it was dropped into the Atlantic and fireS

But that said SpaceX has more than 300 successful Falcon 9 flights on his loan.

Stuck in space: time line

• May: Starliner’s start slowed down due to a valve problem in the rocket, and then a helium leak.
• June 5: Starliner starts with Williams and Wilmore on board.
• June 6: Starliner Docks with ISS, although he handled three helium leaks and unsuccessful control pushers.
• September 6: Starliner departs IS and Lands in New Mexico, leaving Williams and Wilmore behind.
• September 28: The mission of SpaceX Crew-9 starts with the Hague and Gorbunov on a Dragon spacecraft.
• September 29: SpaceX Dragon Docks with ISS.
• December 17: NASA announces that the launch of four crew members will be delayed from February to the end of March.
• March 2025 onwards: Spacex Dragon Spacecraft will return to Earth with Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov.