National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA said that two US astronauts stuck for about nine months on the International Space Station will be returning to the Earth latest by Tuesday evening. The duo, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are to be transported home in company of another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which landed at the ISS early Sunday.
They have been stranded on the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and were considered unfit to fly them back to Earth.
NASA made the disclosure yesterday evening that it had moved forward the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to approximately 5:57 pm Tuesday (2157 GMT). It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.
The space agency said “The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week”.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also return on the Dragon capsule, with the journey to be broadcast live from Monday evening when hatch closure preparations begin.
The adventure will mark the end of their ordeal that has made Wilmore and Williams stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.
Their prolonged stay was significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months.
However, it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or compared to the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.
Their unexpected nature of prolonged staying away from their families had made them to receive additional personal care items and clothing supply because they were not prepared for that long stay as it has attracted interest and sympathy for them.
AFP
