NASA announced on Tuesday that two astronauts have been stranded on the International Space Station since a problem with their Boeing spacecraft in June. Due to delays, they will have to remain there even longer.
The next astronaut launch to the ISS, originally scheduled for February, has been postponed to late March. This is to allow the new SpaceX spacecraft used for the mission more time to complete processing.
The four crew members currently on board the station must wait for the next crew member to arrive before departing in another SpaceX Dragon capsule. Among them are NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are set to embark on the first test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Originally planned to spend about a week on the space station, Williams and Wilmore have now been living and working in orbit for over nine months, including additional time due to the recent delay.
Typically, new crew members overlap with departing crew members for a short period on the ISS, known as the handover period. During this time, astronauts exchange information about ongoing experiments, maintenance projects, and other protocols.
When Williams and Wilmore finally depart, NASA astronaut Nick Haig and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov will also return home with them.
NASA (via Flickr)
According to officials, the new Dragon capsule scheduled for launch in late March should arrive at NASA’s processing facility in Florida in early January. Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, emphasized the meticulous attention to detail required in manufacturing, assembling, testing, and integrating a new spacecraft.
The capsule, known as Crew 10, will be launched by NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, and Japanese cosmonaut Takuya Onishi. Until then, the quartet will continue training for the mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
