The decision will leave the crew on the ISS until February. The mission was initially supposed to last about a week.
has announced that astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will return to Earth next February aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The announcement at a press conference today caps off months of speculation about the best plan to safely bring the astronauts home after malfunctions with their ride, Boeing ’s Starliner capsule, postponed their departure from the International Space Station in June.
administrator Bill Nelson said at the briefing. “We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.” Wilmore and Williams launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5, becoming the first astronauts to perform a crewed test flight of Starliner, a capsule developed by Boeing to ferry people to and from the ISS.
’s plan will leave them on ISS for a total of eight months, longer than the typical six-month stay but not unprecedented. Instead of sending a four-person crew to the ISS onboard SpaceX’s Dragon in September as planned, two of the seats on the capsule will be left open for Wilmore and Williams. New Dragon spacesuits for the astronauts, along with other necessary supplies, will be brought to the station in the coming months.
and Boeing have disagreed in recent weeks on the safety of Starliner. Whereas ’s Commercial Crew Program, which seeks to develop commercially operated spacecraft to transport crews to and from the ISS. SpaceX’s Dragon completed its first crewed test flight in 2020, earning certification from
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