2024-08-25 10:13:30
CTK
Updated 14 hours ago
The pair of astronauts who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Starliner spacecraft in June will not return to Earth until next year on the Crew Dragon ship. This was announced by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
According to him, the return flight of Starliner ships would not be safe enough. The Boeing-made ship reported a fuel leak and failure of several guidance nozzles during the final phase of its flight in June. The astronauts will be transported back by the equipment of Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX.
Astronauts Barry (Butch) Wilmore and Sunita (Suni) Williams will therefore be on the ISS significantly longer than expected. According to the original plans, they were to stay in space for only a few days and return to Earth in mid-June. The return flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for February, according to earlier NASA information.
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February and that Starliner will return without a crew,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said. According to another representative of the US space agency, Steve Stich, a return flight with a crew would be too risky.
The Starliner should thus attempt to return to Earth without a crew in early September, writes the AP agency. The ship is scheduled to land in the desert of New Mexico. For several weeks, NASA and Boeing engineers have been trying to find the cause of the malfunction and fix it. According to Stich, the agency had a “technical disagreement” with Boeing, as the company claimed it could ensure a safe return flight with the crew.
A failure for Boeing
According to the AP, today’s decision by the US authorities is a failure for Boeing. The company announced after NASA’s statement that it is preparing the safe return of its unmanned ship. Nelson said the agency continues to count on Boeing and that he is 100 percent confident the Starliner will fly into space with a human crew again.
Ten years ago, NASA ordered spacecraft from SpaceX and Boeing as part of a program of cooperation with commercial entities. While the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon took place in 2020, Boeing’s Starliner, due to numerous development delays and subsequent delays, finally took off with astronauts on June 5 of this year.
Video: Falcon 9 rocket launched Dragon into space. Astronauts successfully landed on the ISS (1.6.202)
The Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew Dragon into space. Astronauts have successfully landed on the ISS. | Video: Reuters