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NASA has announced another delay in the return of American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who are on board the International Space Station, through June 2024. According to NASA, both astronauts will remain there until at least the end of March, which will lead to a further postponement of their mission. Return home.
“The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Gorbunov will return to Earth after Crew-10 reaches the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said.
report by AP According to NASA, they also claimed that they would not return until late March or April due to delays in launching their replacements.
Earlier in August, NASA had informed that both the astronauts will return to Earth ‘next February’ i.e. February 2025.
The astronauts arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and were scheduled to spend eight days in the orbiting laboratory.
Why was the mission delayed again?
According to the space agency, a new crew needs to be launched before Wilmore and Williams can return and the next mission is more than a month away.
NASA’s next crew of four was scheduled to launch in February, after which Wilmore and Williams returned home with two other astronauts later that month. But SpaceX needs more time to prepare a brand-new capsule for liftoff. That launch is now scheduled no earlier than the end of March.
NASA said it considered using a separate SpaceX capsule to fly the replacement crew to keep the flights on schedule. But it was decided that the best option was to wait for a new capsule to carry the next crew.
According to officials, NASA likes to have overlapping crews on the space station for smooth transitions. Most space station missions last six months, with some reaching a full year.
NASA talks about basic needs in ISS
In its statement, NASA wrote, “The International Space Station recently received two resupply flights in November and is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate holidays on the orbital platform.
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