Stranded NASA astronauts reveal what it's REALLY like being stuck in space: 'This is not easy'
Two NASA astronauts stranded in space after a fiasco involving a Boeing spacecraft have held their first press conference.
Astronauts Barry 'Butch' Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stuck on the International Space Station since Boeing's Starliner brought them there on June 6.
Their extended stay has proven challenging for their families back on Earth as well. Wilmore and his wife have two daughters, one who is a senior in high school and another who is in college.
Wilmore said that the delayed return mission will cause him to miss out on most of his youngest daughter's senior year, and that he didn't get to spend the summer with his eldest before she went back to college.
But he hopes his absence will make them stronger. 'They're gonna learn from this, and they're gonna grow from this,' he said.
Sunita Williams (L) and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore answered questions live from the International Space Station, where they have been stranded for over three months
Sunita left her husband and two dogs back at home when Starliner lifted off over three months ago.
She said she misses taking her dogs out for a walk in the morning and hearing sounds of the day starting on Earth, like birds chirping.
But being able to watch her home planet go by out of the ISS window 'takes you to a different place, it's very peaceful up here,' she said.
Starliner launched on June 5 with the intention of docking at the ISS for about a week before returning Wilmore and Williams safely to Earth.
But the mission was already off to a rocky start. In the weeks before, the launch was delayed several times due to technical issues with the spacecraft.
Even on the day of liftoff, Starliner experienced minor helium leaks that engineers determined were not severe enough to delay the launch again.
It was all downhill from there. By the time Starliner reached the ISS, it had sprung more helium leaks and five of its 18 thrusters failed.
Ultimately, NASA came to the decision that it would be too risky for Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth on Starliner.
A full timeline of Boeing's Starliner program, from the singing of their massive contact to the incident that left two astronauts stranded aboard the ISS.
Instead, they await SpaceX's Crew-9 mission, which will pick them up at the ISS and bring them home no earlier than February 2025.
Boeing's Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed on September 7.
Wilmore acknowledged the series of mishaps, saying that there have been 'some trying times' since the start of their mission, and it was difficult to see Starliner return home without them.
And in regard to NASA's decision not to have Williams and Wilmore fly back to Earth with their spacecraft, Wilmore said 'we found things we could not get comfortable with.'
He said he believes they could have got to the point where they could have returned on Starliner, but 'we simply ran out of time'.
Williams said that because she and Wilmore used to work in the Navy, they're familiar with last-minute logistical changes like this.
'We're not surprised when deployments get changed,' she said, adding that their families understand.
'It's risky and that's how it goes in the business,' she said.
A journalist asked the astronauts if they felt 'let down' by NASA and Boeing.
'This is not easy,' Wilmore said.
We wouldn't expect the astronauts to say anything critical about NASA, their employer, or the Boeing Starliner capsule that took them to the ISS.
It's well known that long-duration space missions can take a toll on an astronaut's mental and emotional wellbeing.
In simulated space missions, some experience the 'third quarter phenomenon': a dip in motivation that comes from realizing there's as long left in their situation as they have already lived through.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13848393/Stranded-NASA-astronauts-reveal-REALLY-like-stuck-space-not-easy.html
Boeing's Starliner returned to Earth empty after leaving two astronauts who rode the spaceship up to the International Space Station stranded until next year.
It was due to return to earth much earlier, having launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board.
But unexpected thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way up derailed those plans and NASA ultimately decided it was safer to bring the pair back on a spacecraft from rival Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The next scheduled SpaceX flight is not until February next year, meaning Wilmore and Williams will be stranded in space for another six months.
Boeing's Starliner lands at the landing site at White Sands Space Harbor in White Sands, New Mexico
Ground teams reported hearing sonic booms as it streaked red hot across the night sky, having endured temperatures of 3,000F (1,650C) during atmospheric reentry.
A smooth, uneventful ride was seen as critical not only for salvaging some pride but also for Boeing's prospects of achieving certification in the future.
The century-old aerospace giant had carried out extensive ground testing aimed at replicating the technical issues the spaceship had experienced on its ascent and devised plans to prevent more problems.
With its reputation already battered by safety concerns affecting its passenger jets, Boeing made assurances in public and in private that it could be trusted to bring the astronauts home - an assessment not shared by NASA.
'Boeing believed in the model that they had created that tried to predict the thruster degradation for the rest of the flight,' Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, told reporters this week.
But 'the NASA team, due to the uncertainty in the modeling, could not get comfortable with that,' he added, characterizing the mood during meetings as 'tense.'
Starliner capsule fires its thrusters as it pulls away from the International Space Station
The gumdrop-shaped capsule touched down softly at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, its descent slowed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags
Shortly after undocking, Starliner executed a powerful 'breakout burn' to swiftly clear it from the station and prevent any risk of collision - a maneuver that would have been unnecessary if crew were aboard to take manual control if needed.
Following that, mission teams conducted thorough checks of its thrusters in preparation for the critical 'deorbit burn,' required to guide the capsule onto its reentry path around 40 minutes before landing.
While expectations were high that Starliner would stick the landing, as it had in two previous uncrewed tests, NASA will now carefully review all aspects of the mission's performance before deciding on the next steps.
NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX multibillion-dollar contracts over a decade ago to develop spacecraft to taxi astronauts to and from the ISS, after the end of the Space Shuttle program left the US space agency reliant on Russian rockets.
Although initially considered the underdog, Elon Musk's SpaceX surged ahead of mighty Boeing, successfully flying dozens of astronauts since 2020.
The Starliner program, meanwhile, has faced numerous setbacks.
The space capsule touched down at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico around six hours after departing the ISS
In 2019, during its first uncrewed test flight, a software glitch prevented the capsule from rendezvousing with the ISS. A second software issue, which could have caused a catastrophic collision between its modules, was caught and fixed just in time.
In 2021, with the rocket poised on the launchpad for another attempt, blocked valves forced yet another postponement.
The capsule finally reached the ISS in May 2022 on a non-crewed flight, but further issues, including weak parachutes and flammable tape in the cabin that needed removal, delayed the crewed test.
For the current mission, astronauts Wilmore and Williams had been strapped into their seats and ready to fly twice before last-minute 'scrubs' due to technical glitches sent them back to their quarters.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13823903/Starliner-Earth-astronauts-International-Space-Station.html
Boeing launched its problem-plagued Starliner capsule from the International Space Station - leaving its two astronauts stranded behind
The capsule, seen in a live feed from NASA, suffered issues with its thrusters and helium leaks
Starliner’s first test flight went so poorly in 2019 — the capsule never reached the space station because of software errors — that the mission was repeated three years later.
More problems surfaced, resulting in even more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs, reported the Associated Press.
By the time it docked at the ISS, the capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks.
Boeing conducted extensive thruster tests in space and on the ground, and contended the capsule could safely bring the astronauts back. But NASA disagreed, setting the complex ride swap with Space X in motion.
Ultimately, NASA decided that the risk of a fatal accident is too high to bring the astronauts home on Starliner.
Stranded NASA astronauts could have been VAPORIZED if they had returned to Earth in faulty Boeing Starliner spaceship
If NASA had chosen to use Starliner, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore could have been vaporized upon reentry of Earth's orbit or be stuck floating in space
Starliner's problems are located in the service module, which is like the control center for the entire ship, containing systems that control the thrusters, power, as well as water and oxygen for the occupants.
The module, located at the bottom of the capsule, is also critical for aligning the the craft for reentry before it jettisons away before reentry.
The service module must put the capsule at an angled altitude in order for it to reenter Earth.
If the angle is off, the craft would bounce off the atmosphere leaving NASA to scramble to locate it in orbit.
If the angle is too steep, there’s more friction and a greater chance of burning up in the atmosphere, vaporizing the occupants.
Too shallow, and the spacecraft could bounce off the atmosphere and be catapulted back into space like a stone across a pond.
‘So long as the capsule is lined up correctly for reentry, everything's fine,’ Ridolfi said.
‘[If the capsule is not lined up] they either burn up or bounce back into space.'
'If the Starliner Service Module places the capsule in too steep of a reentry window then the capsule ablative heat shield would probably fail,' Ridolfi added.
Five thrusters failed during the 24-hour journey that took the two astronauts to the ISS back in June.
One of the main concerns is that more thrusters could fail on the return leg, leaving them floating in limbo, somewhere between the ISS and Earth.
Based on the amount of oxygen and power capabilities that Starliner has, the crew would have about 96 hours to revive the thrusters and land back on Earth.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were only supposed to be on the International Space Station for eight days
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13724345/terrifying-mission-return-stranded-NASA-astronauts-Boeing-starliner.html
No comments:
Post a Comment