US President Donald Trump has asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring back two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nearly 200 days, instead of the originally planned eight.
Return flights to Earth have been repeatedly postponed due to a combination of technical issues. Wilmore (61) and Williams (58) launched for the ISS on board the Boeing Starliner’s June 5, 2024 maiden voyage.
However, NASA engineers soon discovered four helium leaks and thruster pressurization issues. After days of tests and discussions, NASA decided on August 24, 2024 to leave the two astronauts aboard the space station and bring the Starliner back without the crew.
They later reassigned the two astronauts originally slated for the Crew-9 mission with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, to free up seats for Wilmore and Williams, extending their intended eight-day stay to more than seven months.
In December NASA announced that the Crew-10 launch was postponed to late March to allow SpaceX time to complete a new spacecraft. This delay was expected to push the Crew-9 return to early April, 2025.
Industry rumors suggested further delays for Crew-10, which could lead to SpaceX using another Crew Dragon, possibly the one being prepared for the Ax-4 private astronaut mission, scheduled for launch as soon as April for Axiom Space.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point news 2025.
Russia could send a Soyuz to fetch them tomorrow if Trump would ask nicely and pay the bill…..
They are just waiting up there for the next flight to Mars.
You are exactly right Karl its one thing thinking American technology is # 1 its another when in reality its not true , two NASA reports including studying one astronaut in space and another on earth for a year and another 6 month study the results were shocking ! Practically every organ in the body deteriorated from the heart-bone structure -cardiovascular system -decreased red blood cells -eyesight -immune system and so on –the fact a prestige scientific American organisation came out with those findings shows no propaganda going on . Russia knew this long ago its cosmonauts on returning are… Read more »
Success is not always guaranteed, but entertainment is.
I’m sure the two American astronauts being a male and female have made some kind of secret arrangement to accommodate those deprivations. LOL – But, in reality your question is a valid question considering this is a natural biological function that deprivation could in some way effect human beings and their abilities in space. What shocks me the most, is that President Biden knowing these two are stranded didn’t attempt to make some kind of emergency accommodations, even asking President Putin for help, as a last resort just didn’t happen. Thank God, President Trump took it upon himself to secure… Read more »