São Paulo, SP (Folhapress) – A routine exchange in the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) has taken on unusual meaning: it paves the way for two NASA astronauts in space for nine months to return to Earth.
The space agency anticipated the mission in two weeks after President Donald Trump and his Spacex CEO Elon Musk asked Wilmore and Williams to be brought back earlier than the agency had planned.
Trump and Musk’s demands were an unusual intervention in NASA. The mission previously had a target date of March 26, but the space agency changed a Spacex capsule delayed for another that would be ready earlier.
The CREW-10 mission took place at 8:03 pm (Brasília) this Friday (14) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States.
Spacex’s Falcon 9 rocket transports a Crew Dragon capsule, also from Elon Musk’s company, with a crew of four people.
All eyes, however, are facing Barry Eugene Wilmore and Sunita Williams. The two have been aboard the ISS since June 5 last year, where they arrived in the CST-100 Starliner capsule. Initially, the first manned mission of the ship, developed by Boeing, was expected to last eight days.
But the capsule flight was marked by problems, such as helium leaks from the service module driving system, which were detected before takeoff, but were considered irrelevant to the mission. Some thrusters also failed.
On August 24, given the problems, NASA announced its decision: Starliner would return empty. The return took place on September 7, with no new problems, with the ship going down in the White Sands Desert in New Mexico.
Still in September, on the 30th, a Spacex capsule coupled to ISS on the Crew-9 mission. In it, two people traveled, astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexandre Gorbidov instead of four. Thus, the other two places were for the Starliner duo.
The Crew-9 will remain in orbit until the arrival of Crew-10.
“This is what the country’s manned space flight program is about: being prepared for unknown and unexpected situations,” Wilmore told a recent press conference.
Crew-10 should attach to ISS this Saturday (15), when a command transfer will occur. CREW-9 can leave the space station next Wednesday (19) to land on the coast of Florida. In it, in addition to Wilmore and Williams, will be Hague and Gorbunov.
Clockwise, Barry Wilmore, Nick Hague (glasses), Sunita Williams and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Green T -Shirt), in access between the space station and Spacex NASA Capsule Johnson Four Astronauts are inside a space module, posing for the camera. Wilmore and Williams could not go until the Crew-10 reached the ISS crew with enough American astronauts to maintain ISS, according to NASA.
Wilmore and Williams’ prolonged stay recently became a topic of political debate after Trump and Musk accused the Biden government of abandoning them in space.
Trump blamed Biden for the situation of the two astronauts, although the former president had no involvement in the program. Musk also blamed the Democrat, although it is a widely recognized issue as caused by Boeing.
Astronauts, however, ruled out that involving political influence on the decision to remain in space.
“From our point of view, politics had no role,” said Wilmore. “For us it was kind of like a smooth transition [entre a missão original, de curta duração, e a incorporação à Expedição 72, como parte da tripulação fixa da estação].”
During their stay at ISS, Wilmore and Williams have been working on research and maintenance with other space station astronauts and remained safe, according to NASA. On March 4, during an interview, Williams said he is eager to see his family and their pet dogs upon returning home.
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more than us,” Williams said about his family. “We’re here, we have a mission -we just do what we do every day, and every day are interesting because we’re in space and it’s a lot of fun.”
