Astronauts will be trapped in space for 10 months; remember the whole case - News Room USA

In June, Two NASA astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — were sent into space on Starliner’s inaugural manned flightBoeing spacecraft, to stay seven days on the International Space Station (ISS), but have not yet returned. The event started one of the biggest stories involving space in 2024.

The purpose of the trip was to carry out tests so that the vehicle could become part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. However, the spacecraft experienced setbacks with helium leaks and thrusters that abruptly stopped working in the initial stage of its first flight.

As a result, NASA took the decision to use a capsule, expected to leave space.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without its crew at the beginning of September, ending a three-month test mission hampered by forcing two astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to extend their stay.

Although the mission was intended to be a final test flight before NASA certified Starliner for routine missions, the agency decided to keep the astronauts out of the capsule for a while and cast uncertainty over the spacecraft’s certification despite the .

Spacecraft problems, on the other hand, have tarnished Boeing’s Starliner program at virtually every turn. The vehicle faced years of delays, setbacks and additional costs that cost the company more than US$1 billion (about R$5.4 billion), according to public financial records.

NASA and SpaceX had to assign astronauts before the mission’s Sept. 28 launch to ensure there would be enough room for Williams and Wilmore to return home aboard the vehicle when it completed its mission to the ISS.

How were the astronauts?

With the succession of decisions, scientists were incorporated into the crew aboard the space station as their return plans were postponed.

In this extra time that they are spending in the space laboratory, the two are carrying out maintenance tasks and helping us on spacewalks.

At the end of September, . This may not have been part of the astronaut’s initial plans when she embarked on the first Starliner mission, but she is already familiar with the role.

Williams commanded the laboratory during ISS Expedition 33, taking over in September 2012, when she became only the second woman to hold the post.

Who are Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams?

Butch Wilmore, 61, is an astronaut and test pilot at NASA. Captain in the United States Navy, he was born in the state of Tennessee, graduated as an electrical engineer and studied aircraft electrical systems for his master’s degree and participated in combat missions in Iraq and Bosnia as part of the NATO (Atlantic Treaty Organization) fleet. North).

He joined NASA in 2000, when he began two years of training and then served as support for the team based in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Wilmore went to space for the first time in 2009, with the STS-129 mission, aboard the Atlantis shuttle, developed by the agency.

Between 2014 and 2015, he spent 167 days in orbit working as a flight engineer and commander of a long mission on the ISS.

Suni Williams, in turn, is 58 years old and was born in the US state of Ohio. She earned a degree in engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology and a degree in physical education from the U.S. Naval Academy.

He joined NASA in 1998, when he joined a team that offered preparatory courses for those who would carry out missions on the ISS that contained information on piloting, survival techniques and diving.

She also participated in a collaboration between the US agency and the Russian Space Agency on a mission to the international station and also participated in two other space missions, in 2006 and 2012.