Starliner astronauts will return home 287 days later. Another ship change has forced to modify the plans

NASA has decided to advance the return of the CREW-9 mission and, with it, that of the Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams astronauts, who left for the International Space Station on June 5, 2024 in the Boeing Starliner ship. Despite Elon Musk and Donald Trump messagesreason is not political, but operational.

A few days of advance. If new delays on their trip, Butch and Suni will not return will return home on March 19. Taking into account that they were launched to space for a week, it is nine months after planned. But if we stick to The last date that NASA managedastronauts will return with a few days of advance.

Context. In June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left towards the ISS aboard the Starliner space capsule, Boeing’s alternative to the Crew Dragon ship of Spacex. It was the first manned trip of the Boeing spacecraft, and it was assumed that the last certification test before starting to transport astronauts regularly to the International Space Station.

However, shortly after its launch, The Starliner experienced serious problems in its propulsion systemwhich forced to suspend his return. The situation lasted several months until NASA decided that the ship returned empty. This accident left astronauts at the space station and forced NASA to find a different solution for its return.

What they are waiting for. Once the destiny of the Starliner, Wilmore and Williams decided, they became part of the permanent crew of the ISS. They work in the experiments in orbit and the maintenance of the station. They have even made space walks: Wilmore has two on this mission, and has become The woman with more hours of extravehicular activity.

So that they could return, NASA He booked two empty seats on the Crew-9 mission of Spacex. The Crew Dragon ship in which they will return to Earth has been coupled to the ISS since September Station maintenance. And the CREW-10 mission is not yet ready.

Another change of ship. The CREW-10 mission was supposed to take off in a new Crew Dragon ship, called C213, which has not yet flown to space. However, a technical incidence, apparently related to the ship’s batteries, forced to delay its first flight at least until the end of April.

Instead of continuing to delay the calendar (and with it, the return of Wilmore and Williams), NASA has opted for a logistics maneuver: Reassign to the CREW-10 mission an already tested shipthe C210 ‘Endurance’, which was preparing to fly with the private axiom-4 mission in spring. Thanks to this ship change, Crew-9’s return not only is not delayed, but is ahead of a few days.

New dates. NASA plans to launch the CREW-10 mission on March 12, 2025, which would allow the CREW-9 to return on March 19 with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, along with their companions Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (from the Russian agency Roscosmos).

This change of dates responds, as we have seen, to a technical and operational issue, but explains why Elon Musk and Donald Trump published on social networks that Spacex would rescue the two astronauts “abandoned in the ISS” as soon as possible. A propaganda narrative of what was really happening after the curtain.

Image | Suni Williams during a space walk (NASA)

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