Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two American astronauts stuck in the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024, should be back on earth in a few days after the successful takeoff, Friday, March 14, of a inhabited mission of NASA supposed to bring them back.
The Falcon 9 rocket of Elon Musk Spacex’s company took off shortly after 7 p.m. (midnight in Paris, Saturday) from the Kennedy space center, in Florida, with four astronauts on board. Initially planned on Wednesday, the departure was canceled at the last minute due to a technical problem on a ground support system. An inspection has since been conducted and a “Air pocket” Probably at the origin of the evacuated problem, NASA said.
This mission – named Crew 10 – could allow butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Body -Back to Entreprendre their return to Earth as soon as NASA, next Wednesday, a few days after the arrival of the new crew. Initially left for an eight -day mission, the two veterans of the space saw their stay drag on in the ISS due to problems detected on the propulsion system of the Boeing Starliner apparatus which had sent them. These failures led NASA to decide in the summer of 2024 to return the Vacuum Boeing vessel and bring the two astronauts back with the Multimillionaire Elon Musk SpaceX company.
A journey that recently took a political turn with the return to power of President Donald Trump, the latter accusing his predecessor Joe Biden of having voluntarily ” abandoned “ the two unfortunate. Elon Musk, now a close advisor to the Republican, assured that he could have rescued them a long time ago, without specifying how, even going so far as to insult a astronaut who accused him of lying.
“This mission has drawn attention”
The new crew left Friday for the ISS consists of two astronauts from NASA, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, a Japanese, Takuya Onishi, and a Russian cosmonaut, Kirill Peskov. Despite the war in Ukraine, the United States and Russia have continued its collaboration in the space in recent years, with the sending of cosmonauts via SpaceX and astronauts by Russian Soyuz rockets during the missions of rotation of the crew of the ISS. It is in this context that this new mission is written. Its participants will be responsible for carrying out scientific and technological experiences in the space laboratory.
After a few days awarded period between the two crews, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are supposed to return to Earth alongside the American Nick Hague and the Russian Alexandre Gorbounov, of Crew-9. The SpaceX vessel is expected to bang Florida off, thanks to brake parachutes.
If their stay in space has emerged, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have not yet exceeded the record of the American astronaut Frank Rubio. The latter had lived 371 days aboard the ISS in 2023, instead of six months initially planned, due to a cooling liquid leak aboard the Russian spacecraft provided for its return.
If the two astronauts seemed to be accommodated by their adventure, the test was however particularly trying for their relatives, they said. “We appreciate all the love and support of everyone”, Suni Williams said this week earlier this week in an interview.
“This mission drew attention. There is good and bad. But I think the positive point is that more and more people are interested in what we do In terms of spatial exploration, ”said the American.