فضاء
رائدا الفضاء ينتظران العودة إلى الأرض
August 12, 2024 - ستقرر وكالة ناسا في منتصف آب (أغسطس) كيفية ومتى ستعيد رائدي الفضاء سونيتا وليامز وباري ويلمور من محطة الفضاء الدولية، بما في ذلك ربما رحلة العودة إلى الوطن في كبسولة سبيس أكس، بعد تأخير عودتهما مراراً وتكراراً على متن مركبة ستارلاينر التابعة لشركة بوينغ.
Navy veterans Wilmore and Williams flew to the ISS on June 5 on Boeing’s Starliner, the craft’s first crewed launch. They are still on the station, waiting for NASA to figure out how to get them back to Earth.
“We don’t just have to bring a crew back on Starliner, for example. We could bring them back on another vehicle,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during a press conference on Wednesday (August 7).
Boeing’s Starliner capsule has had several issues. Its original launch date was pushed back twice -- once because of a problem with an oxygen valve.
Once in space, NASA discovered four helium leaks and five malfunctioning thrusters. NASA and Boeing have said the Starliner capsule is safe to travel in, but the exact issue behind its troubles is yet to be determined, and Wilmore and Williams remain on the ISS.
If NASA chooses SpaceX’s Dragon option, only two of the four astronauts set for the launch will go, leaving two seats to ferry Wilmore and Williams back to Earth in February 2025.
- NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (NASA)
- Could two NASA astronauts be stuck at the space station until next year? (Associated Press)
- NASA may ask SpaceX to retrieve astronauts stuck at space station (Financial Times)
- Two astronauts wait to come home as Boeing races to understand spacecraft issues. Here’s what’s at stake (CNN)