What was meant to be a 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first NASA astronauts – Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams – to fly with Boeing could extend to eight months.
NASA said on Wednesday that the two astronauts sent to International Space Station by Boeing’s Starliner on a 10-day mission could return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025 if Starliner is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth.
Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore took off aboard the Boeing Starliner in June and have been at the ISS since the sixth of that month. The Starliner has faced glitches in the propulsion system following a series of helium leaks and the astronauts
NASA is working on several return options including using SpaceX Dragon Crew. The Crew Dragon capsule would then be able to return to Earth with Starliner’s crew of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in February 2025
Starliner spacecraft launched in June carrying two astronauts to the ISS in a high-stakes test mission required before NASA can certify the spacecraft for routine astronaut flights.
But the mission, initially expected to last about eight days, has been drawn out far longer by an array of problems with the craft’s propulsion system that Boeing and NASA have been scrambling to fix.
The US space agency said Ms Williams, who is a veteran and is on her third space mission, investigated using fluid physics, such as surface tension, to overcome the lack of gravity when watering and nourishing plants being grown in space.
This is akin to gardening in space and is a very vital step towards understanding how plants grow and respond to microgravity conditions. The research will be crucial when humanity looks to establish various bases in the solar system and beyond.
