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After months of speculation and assurances, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finally confirmed the date of Sunita Williams’ return to Earth on Saturday. The US space agency said the Boeing Starliner capsule will return from the International Space Station without Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. Meanwhile, the two astronauts will return to Earth in February 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule owned by Elon Musk.
Why did NASA postpone Sunita Williams’ return flight to 2025?
On Saturday, NASA officials said it is currently “too risky” to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams back to Earth. Therefore, the Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth without the two astronauts.
“Wilmore and Williams will formally continue their work as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew until February 2025. They will return home aboard a Dragon spacecraft along with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The Starliner is expected to depart the space station and perform a safe, controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September,” ANI quoted a NASA statement as saying.
How has Elon Musk’s SpaceX come to the rescue?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is currently the only US company capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Although the SpaceX capsule is currently parked on the ISS, it is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They are due to return in September this year. SpaceX’s next space flight is scheduled to launch in September this year.
There is another spacecraft parked on the ISS, the Russian Soyuz capsule. But the Russian capsule is even smaller, as it can only carry three astronauts. The capsule is planned to carry back two Russian astronauts after completing its one-year term.
The next SpaceX taxi flight was previously scheduled to carry four astronauts, but will now carry two astronauts to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight scheduled for late February.
Helium leak in Boeing Starliner
The Boeing Starliner had several problems before it launched from Earth earlier this year. NASA and Boeing detected a helium leak and reported problems with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters on June 6.
Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing data collection, conducting flight and ground tests, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans. However, the uncertainty does not meet safety standards, making the return of Williams and Wilmore ‘risky’.
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