The months-long space saga of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams has had another chapter, as their ride is on its way to the International Space Station to, in time, finally bring them back to Earth.
SpaceX launched today (28) the rescue mission for the two stuck test pilots at the International Space Station, sending up a downsized crew to finally bring them home next year.
Wilmore and Williams flew into space in the trouble-plagued Boeing Starliner, a spacecraft that returned to Earth empty earlier this month because of safety concerns.
It is now up to NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov to retrieve the pair.
Associated Press reported:
“Because NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there wasn’t a way to bring them back earlier on SpaceX without interrupting other scheduled missions.
By the time they return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. They expected to be gone just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight that launched in June.”
Boeing’s Starliner was deemed too risky after a number of thruster troubles and helium leaks impaired its mission.
NASA had to cut two astronauts from this SpaceX launch to make room on the Dragon capsule’s for Wilmore and Williams on the return to Earth.
“Wilmore and Williams watched the liftoff via a live link sent to the space station, prompting a cheer of ‘Go Dragon!’ from Williams, NASA deputy program manager Dina Contella said.”
In the meantime, Williams – in her ‘happy place’ – was promoted to commander of the space station.
Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive on the Space Station tomorrow (29), four astronauts staying there since March can leave in their own SpaceX capsule.
“Rookie NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space flier Stephanie Wilson were pulled from this flight after NASA opted to go with SpaceX to bring the stuck astronauts home. Promised a future space mission, both were at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, taking part in the launch livestream. Gorbunov remained on the flight under an exchange agreement between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.”
Hague spoke about the challenges of launching with a diminished crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.
“’We’ve got a dynamic challenge ahead of us’, Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend. ‘We know each other and we’re professionals and we step up and do what’s asked of us’.”
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