They should have been back on Earth long ago, but the return of the two US astronauts from the ISS space station has been delayed again. Now NASA wants to pick them up in February – with a SpaceX spacecraft instead of Boeing.
Two astronauts who have been on board the International Space Station (ISS) for significantly longer than originally planned due to problems with Boeing’s “Starliner” are now not scheduled to return to Earth until next February.
The US space agency NASA announced this at a press conference. The two will use another spacecraft, namely the “Crew Dragon” from SpaceX. The decision was made for safety reasons, said NASA boss Bill Nelson.
Mission should only last one week
NASA astronaut Suni Williams and her colleague Barry Wilmore arrived at the ISS in early June on the first manned test flight of the “Starliner”. The mission was actually only planned for about a week, but then numerous technical problems arose with the “Starliner” – among other things, there were helium leaks and problems with the engines.
NASA then spent a long time considering whether it would be better to bring the two astronauts back to Earth with the “Starliner” or – as now announced – months later with the “Crew Dragon” launching in September.
Boeing’s series of mishaps continues
The “Starliner” from the US aerospace company Boeing, which has recently been plagued by mishaps, is a partially reusable spacecraft that consists of a capsule around three meters high for the crew and a service module. Unlike SpaceX’s “Crew Dragon”, it does not land on water, but on earth.
In May 2022, the “Starliner” completed its first successful unmanned flight to the ISS and spent four days there. In the future, it will transport astronauts to the ISS as an alternative to the “Crew Dragon” space capsule.
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