Spacex Rocket throws while Butch and Suni prepare to return

Spacex has launched a rocket that takes a new team to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a plan to take astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home.

The couple should be in the ISS for only eight days, but due to technical problems with the experimental spacecraft they came, they have been there for more than nine months.

Astronauts will begin their trip back to earth two days after the new crew arrives. Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said he was delighted with the perspective.

“Butch and Suni have done a great job and we are excited to bring them back,” he said.

The astronauts, along with their workmates from the ISS, Nick Hague of NASA and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will be relieved by four astronauts, Russia, Japan and two of the United States.

There will be a two -day installment after which the old crew must begin its trip back to Earth. But there could be a small additional delay, since they expect the conditions on the ground to be suitable for a safe re -entry of the capsule that returns, according to Dana Weigel, manager, of the ISS program.

“The weather always has to cooperate, so we will take our time on that if it is not favorable,” he told reporters.

Weigel explained that astronauts had begun to prepare for delivery last week.

“Butch sounded a ceremonial bell when Suni delivered the Cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin command,” he said.

Astronauts have constantly said that they have been happy to be aboard the space station, with Suni Williams describing it as their “happy place.” But Dr. Simeon Barber, from the Open University, told BBC News that there would probably have been a personal cost.

“When they send you on a work trip that is supposed to last a week, you don’t expect you to take most of a year,” he said.

“This stay extended in space will have interrupted family life, things will have happened at home that will have been lost, so there will be a period of agitation.”

Butch and Suni arrived at the ISS in early June 2024 to test an experimental spacecraft called Starliner, which was built by the Boeing Aerospace firm, a Spacex rival.

The mission had been delayed for several years due to technical problems in the development of the spacecraft, and there were problems during its launch and coupling to the ISS. This included problems with some of Starliner’s thrusters, which would be necessary to delay the spacecraft to re -enter the land atmosphere and helium gas leaks in the propulsion system.

NASA decided that it would not assume a small risk to bring Butch and Suni back in Starliner, when they had the option to return them to the Spacex dragon capsule. NASA decided that the best option was to do this during a scheduled crew rotation, although it would mean keeping astronauts at the space station for several months.

Boeing has constantly argued that it would have been safe to bring Starliner to Butch and Suni, and was not happy with the decision to use the capsule of a rival, which will be “shameful” for Boeing, according to Dr. Barber.

“It is not a good look for Boeing to see the astronauts who took in space return in the trade of a competitor.”

Both President Trump and the CEO of Spacex, Elon Musk, have said that Butch and Suni could have been brought home before, more recently in a Joint interview with Fox News in February.

President Trump states: “They stayed in space.”

When the interviewer, Sean Hannity, explains, saying “they were supposed to be there for eight days. There are almost 300,” Trump responds with a word: “Biden”. Musk follows up by stating: “They left them there for political reasons.”

The statement is denied by NASA Steve Stitch.

“We observed a wide range of options and we worked hand in hand with Spacex to see what was best to do in general and when we put all that, the best option was to have the one we embarked,” he said.

That decision was supported by Dr. Libby Jackson, who is head of space at the London Science Museum and worked at the European Control Center for ISS.

“The well -being of Butch and Suni would always have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, since decisions were making for the best way to deal with the circumstances that arose,” he said.

“NASA made those decisions based on good technical reasons, for programmatic reasons, and found the correct solution that has kept Butch and Suni safe.

“I really hope to see them return to the earth, safe and sound, along with the rest of their crew companions.”