A team of four astronauts is gearing up for launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday. This marks the beginning of the process to bring NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Willmore back to Earth.
Williams and Wilmore have been capturing public interest since their launch in June on a test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Initially planned to stay at the space station for a week, they are now set to spend nine months in orbit.
During their journey to the ISS, the Boeing capsule faced various challenges like thruster malfunctions and propellant leaks. Consequently, NASA decided to return the Starliner craft to Earth with only one crew member, leaving the two astronauts aboard the orbiting outpost.
NASA then rearranged crew rotations to free up seats on the SpaceX Dragon Capsule for Williams and Willmore to return home.
On September 29th, the capsule arrived at the space station carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The plan is for Willmore and Williams to hitch a ride back with them at the end of their approximately six-month mission.
As the new crew gets ready to launch, NASA astronauts Anne McLain and Nicole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Onishi, and Russian astronaut Kiril Peskov are set to blast off into space on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the Crew-10 mission.
The liftoff is scheduled for 7:48pm from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew-10 astronauts are expected to dock around 6am on Thursday and reach the space station later that day, taking over from the current crew of four.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
