SpaceX launched a rescue mission for two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since December.
According to the news reported by Euronews, the Falcon 9 rocket carrying Nick Hague from the American Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Alexander Gorbunov from Russia took off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Because NASA rotates space station crews about every six months, the vehicle, with two empty seats reserved for retired astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, won’t return until late February.
Officials say there is no way SpaceX can bring them back faster without disrupting other planned missions.
When the two return to Earth, they will have spent more than eight months in space. They planned to stay for just one week when they signed up for Boeing’s first crewed plane, which was launched in June. NASA decided that the Boeing Starliner vehicle was too dangerous for the astronauts to return with this vehicle due to a series of thrust problems and helium leaks, so the two were stranded on the ISS.
The space agency removed the two astronauts originally scheduled to be aboard the vehicle to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return trip to SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
SpaceX has long been a leader in the commercial crew program, which it established more than a decade ago when NASA’s space shuttle was retired. The company, founded and CEO Elon Musk, surpassed Boeing in sending astronauts to the space station in 2020 and has already completed 10 crewed flights for NASA.
Boeing, on the other hand, has had a number of problems over the years.
2024-09-29 07:46:57
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