Sunita and Barry will be on the ISS longer than expected. What next? Premium
The Hindu
Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams face extended stay on ISS due to Starliner issues, impacting Expeditions 71 and 72.
Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams’s job was simple when they took off to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5. They were to test-fly the Boeing Starliner crew capsule for the first time with a human crew, assess its performance (including its manual controls), dock with the ISS, and return to the earth in about a week.
But what was supposed to be a straightforward eight-day mission has since turned into an eight-month opera, with NASA now indicating the two astronauts will return only in 2025. Starliner’s helium leak and malfunctioning thrusters have caused this delay. While Boeing remains optimistic, it doesn’t look like the duo will return to the earth onboard Starliner..
Nine crew members are currently aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 71: Williams, Wilmore, Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin.
Kononenko and Chub arrived at the ISS onboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft as part of Expedition 70 and stayed on for Expedition 71. Caldwell-Dyson joined the ISS crew on March 25 this year, aboard Soyuz MS-25. All three are scheduled to return on September 24 onboard Soyuz MS-25.
Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin arrived at the ISS as part of the SpaceX Crew-8 onboard the Dragon Endeavour on March 5, to join Expedition 71. They are also set to return to Earth in September 2024 using the same craft.
As Expedition 71 prepares for its return journey, its crew will hand over the space station to the members of Expedition 72, which will begin on September 24 with a seven-member crew.
Williams and Wilmore should have left the ISS before Expedition 72 began. Thanks to Starliner’s malfunctioning thrusters, they are currently extending their stay at the ISS.
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