NASA has finally fixed the date of the return of the empty Starliner spacecraft, but according to NASA, crew members Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore will remain in space until 2025.
NASA ANNOUNCED THE DATE OF THE RETURN OF THE EMPTY STARLINER SPACECRAFT:
We all know that the two legendary astronauts of this era Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were sent to the International Space Station on the 5th of June to spend a week. Yes, you have read it right! It was only scheduled to be docked at the International Space Station for a week.
But after arriving in orbit NASA announced that there was a problem discovered in the spacecraft and they said there was a problem as the helium was leaking from the spacecraft. As time was passing everybody was so cautious about the return of the astronauts. However, NASA and Boeing were delaying the return of the starliner in June and July.
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A question that was raised at that time was about the health of the two astronauts. In reply, NASA Said the two astronauts were doing well and they were some of the most experienced astronauts and they had the knowledge of how to deal with this kind of emergency and they were doing well.
And NASA also said that they are continuously monitoring the development of spacecraft and about the health of the two astronauts. At that time they said they were planning to return the two astronauts.
But on the 24th of August NASA suddenly announced that the star liner is going to return to Earth without Sunita William and Barry Wilmore.
NASA’S STATEMENT:
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time.“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,”
While the star liner is going to return to Earth on the 6th of September NASA has also rescheduled for the return of the two astronauts that is on February 2025. They will return to Earth by a Space X Dragon capsule and this decision is taken to give the most priority to the safety of the astronauts.
And according to NASA officials, both astronauts are safe and completely doing well and they will continue to use their experience to experiment in the Space station with 7 other astronauts. The crew dragon is going to be launched next month as a part of a rooting astronaut rotation mission and it is expected to return in February 2025 with Williams and Wilmore as two seats are going to be empty for them as there are four seats in a crew dragon.
THE STATEMENT OF SUNITA WILLIAMS:
Williams said, “I love being up here and I love floating around. I think the mindset really is you know it is not going to last forever, so I think you take advantage of flying around as much as possible.”
Hopefully, they will be back to the earth safely as they are very crucial assets of today’s sky research.