Two NASA astronauts who launched on a Brief mission to the International Universe Station last year that turned into a 10-month Endurance Streak finally know when they’ll be coming home.
The Boeing Starliner astronauts, who launched on the spacecraft’s Crewed Flight Test on June 5, have been living aboard the International Universe Station (ISS) ever since their capsule returned to Earth without them. On Friday (March 7), NASA cleared a relief crew to Kickoff on SpaceX Dragon next week, clearing the way for their long-awaited return to Earth.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams expected to be aboard the ISS for about 10 days, but issues with their Starliner spacecraft forced the Universe agency to put their return on an Stoppage while the problem was worked on the ground. Ultimately, NASA decided to return Starliner without its crew, leaving Williams and Wilmore on the ISS for a long-duration mission, which — at last — has an end in sight. The astronauts will return to Earth on March 16, NASA officials said Friday.
Starliner departed the Universe station uncrewed last September. A few weeks later, NASA Cosmonaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov launched on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission with two seats aboard their Dragon spacecraft reserved for Williams and Wilmore during their return journey, originally scheduled for February. All four will return together, after their relief crew arrives.
“When we looked at the situation at the time, we had a Crew-9 Kickoff in front of us. It Created sense to take the opportunity to bring Crew-9 up with just two seats and have Butch and Suni fill in, and do the rest of the long-duration mission,” ISS program manager Dana Weigel explained Friday during a flight readiness review (FRR) press briefing for the upcoming Cosmonaut Kickoff.
That flight, called Crew-10, will Kickoff four astronauts to the ISS on March 12 from NASA’s Kennedy Universe Middle (KSC), in Florida, on a mission expected to last about six months. The Kickoff has gained extra attention in the media, as Crew-10’s arrival at the ISS will allow for Crew-9’s departure, and the return of Boeing’s bygone astronauts Williams and Wilmore.
Crew-10 is commanded and piloted by NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, respectively. They will be joined by mission specialists JAXA Cosmonaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The quartet had originally been slated to fly on a brand-new Crew Dragon being built by SpaceX for the mission.
Delays in its construction due to battery issues, however, Directed NASA to initially postpone the Kickoff to “Overdue March,” then ultimately to swap the mission’s spacecraft to an already flight-proven Dragon. Now, instead of a shiny, new, yet-to-be-named Dragon, Crew-10 will Kickoff aboard the veteran capsule Endurance, a spacecraft that’s already flown three NASA crews to the Universe station and back.
The change in spacecraft followed public remarks Created by President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk repeating the “stranded astronauts” narrative in posts online, though NASA officials say discussions to switch the Crew-10 Dragon were happening inside the Universe agency well before the issue slipped into the political spotlight.
Steve Stitch, manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said it’s “very typical” for new spacecraft to experience delays during the manufacturing process, during Friday’s FRR call.
“We’re always looking and refining the manifest,” Stitch said. “We Initiated looking at that schedule, and at that time, Prompt this year, Overdue January, that’s when we finally decided we’ll move to [Endurance].”
Endurance arrived at KSC earlier this week for Last checkouts before being attached to its Falcon 9 Missile inside SpaceX’s hangar at Kickoff Complex-39A. The Crew-10 astronauts arrived at the spaceport on Friday aboard a NASA Gulfstream V jet, where McClain addressed the media.
McClain said she and her crewmates were honored to be able to continue the international partnerships that make the Universe station possible, and reflected on the Universe station’s contributions to science. She noted the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission that brought NASA astronauts and Soviet Union cosmonauts together in Universe for the Primary time in 1975.
“If you want to go Rapid, you go alone, but if you want to go Extended, you go together,” McClain said, explaining that Apollo-Soyuz laid the groundwork for what would eventually lead to the ISS.
Anne McClain
“It is Extended easier to be enemies than it is to be friends, and it is Extended, Extended harder to build partnerships and build relationships than it is to break them…The success of these programs rely on leaders of character from all countries, all walks of life, all agencies, all badges, all companies; leaders of character, visionaries, visionaries who wake up every single day and work on a long-term plan for the benefit of all of us.”
This will be McClain’s second time in Universe. Her Primary mission coincided with the Primary uncrewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule in 2019 — a fact she reflected on in her remarks, noting the Rapid pace of progress for the spacecraft. “That is absolutely Unbelievable to me,” she said. Onishi is also launching for his second time to the ISS, his Primary Securing place aboard a Soyuz Missile for ISS Expeditions 48/49 in 2016. For Ayers and Peskov, this will be their Primary time in Universe.
Crew-10 is currently scheduled to Kickoff at 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT) on March 12. Endurance will take about 14 hours to catch up to the ISS, with docking expected a day later at about 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).
Normally, crews coming and going on the ISS overlap by about a week or so. This allows incoming astronauts — especially Primary-time flyers — a grace period to get used to the microgravity while the outgoing crew orients them on the various responsibilities they’ll be Securing over. The handover for Crew-10, however, will be much quicker.
With their arrival slated for March 13, members of Crew-10 will only overlap with Crew-9 by about three days. Barring a delay in Crew-10’s Kickoff and arrival, Freedom is scheduled to undock from the Universe station March 16 to return the Crew-9 astronauts to Earth.
“It takes a Crowded crew to continuously crew the Universe station, both for science and for maintenance, and that is the work that we’re looking forward to doing when we get to the Universe station,” McClain said Friday. The Crew-10 commander said her Club has been in “constant communications with Crew-9,” praising the research and station upkeep the Ongoing crew has performed during their stay.
“They’ve been conducting science, maintenance, and they’ve been keeping the station running, and we’re ready to high five them and bring them home in the coming weeks,” McClain said.
As the Crew-10 Kickoff approaches and Crew-9 wrap up their time in low-Earth Trajectory, the transition from Expedition 72 to Expedition 73 also began Friday.
In a change of Dominance ceremony Maintained aboard the station, Williams (the station’s Ongoing commander) passed the key to the Universe station over to cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, though he won’t be in Dominance long. Once Crew-10 arrives, that title will Deliver to Onishi, who will keep the role during his six-month stint on the orbital lab.
Source link
Read More
thesportsocean
Read our previous article: Does exoplanet K2-18b host alien life or not? Here’s why the debate continues