Donald Trump took responsibility, said – Biden left him there
New US President Donald Trump has tasked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with bringing back stranded astronaut Sunita Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded in space since June last year.
Trump wrote on social media – I have asked Musk to bring back those two ‘brave astronauts’. These were released into space by the Biden administration. They were waiting on the space station for many months. Musk will get to work on this soon. Hope everyone is safe.
Musk responded by saying, “We will do the same.” It’s terrible that the Biden administration has left them there for so long, when NASA had engaged SpaceX several months ago to bring back both astronauts under its crew mission.
Sunita Williams’ 8-day trip turned into 10 months
Sunita Williams has been in space for about 8 months. She reached the ISS with Butch Wilmore on June 5 last year. He was supposed to return a week later. The two went to test Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, but after a malfunction, both stayed at the ISS. Both have been stranded there since then.
NASA had informed that Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be brought back by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft in February 2025. But now their return may take longer. NASA said last month that they will have to wait until the end of March 2025. This date may also be extended to early April.
According to NASA, SpaceX will have to build a new capsule to bring Sunita Williams back from space. SpaceX will take time to build it, due to which the mission will be delayed. This work can be completed by the end of March. Only after this will the astronauts trapped in space be brought back.
Why were Sunita and Wilmore sent to the space station ?
Sunita Williams and Bush Wilmore went on a joint ‘Crew Flight Test Mission’ of Boeing and NASA. In this, Sunita was the pilot of the spacecraft. Bush Wilmore, who accompanied her, was the commander of this mission. Both of them were going to return to Earth after staying at the International Space Station (ISS) for 8 days.
At the time of the launch, Boeing Defense, Space and Security President and CEO Ted Colbert called it a great start to a new era of space exploration. The mission’s primary objective was to demonstrate the spacecraft’s ability to carry astronauts to and from the space station.
The astronauts were also to conduct research and several experiments on the space station for 8 days. Sunita and Wilmore are the first astronauts to be sent on a space journey using the Atlas-V rocket. During this mission, they were also to fly the spacecraft themselves. They were also to complete several types of objectives related to flight tests.
How did Sunita and Wilmore get stuck in space for so long?
The Starliner spacecraft had many problems after launch, which led to several failed launches even before June 5. There were reports of problems with the spacecraft even after launch.
NASA said that there is a small helium leak in the thruster of the spacecraft’s service module. The spacecraft has many thrusters. With the help of them, the spacecraft changes its path and speed. Due to the presence of helium gas, pressure is created on the rocket. Its structure remains strong, which helps the rocket in its flight.
Within 25 days of launch, the spacecraft’s capsule had suffered 5 helium leaks. 5 thrusters had stopped working. In addition, the propellant valve could not be completely closed. The crew in space and the mission manager in Houston, US, were unable to fix it.