2024-08-26 13:59:13
Washington: NASA has taken a big decision regarding the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore trapped in space. Sunita Williams will now return next year. At the same time, this is also a big setback for the Boeing company, because their return will now be through SpaceX’s Crew Dragon instead of Boeing Starliner. NASA believes that if they are brought back through Boeing Starliner, it could be dangerous. Crew Dragon has brought astronauts back before as well. Both astronauts went to space for the test flight of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. They had to stay in space for 8 days, but it has been 80 days since they were stranded. The flight of Boeing Starliner was successful and it also reached space. But it faced major technical problems. Due to helium leak and thruster malfunction, the astronauts had to stay in the International Space Station (ISS) for a long time. NASA has decided to seek help from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX for the return of both the astronauts. Under the regular astronaut rotation mission, SpaceX Crew Dragon will go into space next month. After spending eight months here, he will return in February next year.
Starliner will return to Earth empty
NASA chief Bill Nelson said that Starliner’s propulsion system is too risky to bring back astronauts. The Starliner capsule will leave the ISS without the crew and try to return to Earth with the astronauts. Choosing Boeing’s top rival for the rescue mission is a new setback to the Starliner testing mission. Boeing was hopeful that its mission would be successful after years of waiting. But ever since the testing of the mission began, Starliner has been in the news for negative news.
Why did you choose SpaceX?
Nelson said that he discussed the agency’s decision with Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg. SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission will be launched at the end of September. Earlier it was to carry four astronauts. But now only two people will go in it. Two seats will remain empty. It will remain connected to the ISS till its scheduled return in February. During the return, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will also sit in this station. On June 5, both the astronauts went to space on the first flight of Starliner. In the initial 24 hours, there were many problems in the propulsion system of Starliner. 5 out of its 28 thrusters malfunctioned. Helium leak was also seen.