NASA astronauts stranded in space can return to Earth with Elon Musk's help

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August 12 2024, 12:36 PM

Two NASA astronauts, 400 kilometers from Earth, are going to visit the International Space Station (ISS) for 8 days, and they have already counted 65 people who are unable to return to Earth.

By Infobay

Astronauts Butch Willmore and Sunita Williams were supposed to return to Earth on June 14, when Boeing's new Starliner capsule made its first unmanned test flight, but showed failure in its thrusters and other constants when it docked at the (ISS). Systems that do not guarantee safe returns.

NASA is tired of explaining every week that the two astronauts weren't actually stranded in space. “Astronauts are certainly not stranded, but a little bit stranded. They're safe on the space station with plenty of supplies and jobs,” explained Scott Hubbard, administrator of the US space agency.

The orbiting lab is designed for any contingency that may occur there and has SpaceX and Russian Soyuz capsules to evacuate the crew in case of any danger.

But experts continue to assess the problems aboard the Boeing Starliner capsule, which suffered a helium leak and problems with the propellants during its June 6 docking with the International Space Station.

Boeing officials said they wanted more time to understand the root cause of the problems. “We're not going to set a specific date until we finish those tests, look at the fault tree and understand the path forward,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's commercial group, said a month ago.

But everything changed, when NASA admitted at a press conference that the problems may be more serious than previously thought and that the astronauts will not be able to return to Boeing's Starliner, the stranded astronauts are waiting for instructions to stay in space.

NASA is now investigating whether they can return to Earth in a spacecraft built by SpaceX, the space company of billionaire businessman Elon Musk and rival to Boeing. This will happen only in February 2025. There is also an option to do this in the Russian Soyuz capsule, which is docked to the International Space Station in case of any emergency.

This is not the first time that a US astronaut's stay has been extended. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and his two Russian crew members ended their more than a year in space after their Soyuz capsule was hit by space debris and leaked all of its coolant. In September 2023, an empty Russian capsule was sent to bring them back.

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