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NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore, on the left, and Suni Williams perch inside the hatch that connects Boeing Starliner with the International Space Station in
POT
The two American astronauts who had been in the International Space Station For nine months after defect Boeing Starliner capsule returned Without them they finally go home.
NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left the Earth in June on a trial flight that originally intended to last about nine days.
But his stay extended later Propulors In the Boeing Starliner capsule “Calypso” failed During the coupling, raising concerns about the ship’s ability to take them home. The agency finally sent the empty capsule after it was docked for about three months at the space station, saying that it wanted to “understand the root causes” of the spacecraft problems.
NASA also announced that Wilmore and Williams, who are veteran astronauts and test pilots of the retired marine, would return to a Spacex Dragon Spacecraft instead. The agency adjusted its rotation of astronauts as a result, eliminating two people from the CREW-9 mission of Spacex, which returns to the earth this week, to leave space for Wilmore and Williams.
That capsule that transported the two people on the crew-9 reached the ISS in September. The teams revolve in the ISS, which means that each group of astronauts works until the next one comes to the space station, when a ceremonial “transfer” occurs.
The Falcon 9 rocket of Spacex rises, transporting NASA crew astronauts to the International Space Station at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, UU., March 14, 2025.
Skipper Joe | Reuters
NASA had originally planned Spacex-10 crew mission -That had to arrive before the crew members -9 could launch again, to launch in February, but approximately one month was delayed.
The rocket that leads to the four new crew members launched Friday night, and its capsule coupled In the space station about 29 hours later.
Wilmore, Williams, NASA Astronaut Nas schedule.
It was supposed that the Starliner crew flight would mark a final box for Boeing and deliver a key asset for NASA. The agency hoped to fulfill its dream of having two competing companies: Boeing and ELON ALMIZCLESpacex – Flying alternative missions to ISS.
Instead, it is not clear what are Boeing’s future spatial plans. The company has lost more than $ 2 billion in its Starliner spacecraft.
This image taken from the video published by NASA shows, from the left, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Suni Williams speaking during a press conference, Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Nasa | AP
Wilmore and Williams’s journey was entangled in politics once the president Donald Trump He assumed the position. Trump and Musk, who have become a close advisor to the president, urged a faster crew launch and He said without evidence that the two astronauts were “stranded” in the space station and that the Biden administration had kept them there for political reasons. NASA had delayed The crew-10 is launched in December to allow more time to process a new dragon capsule, but decided to use a reusable capsule to reduce waiting time.
NASA’s plans to return to the two astronauts have remained consistent since the agency announced them in August.
During their extended stay, Wilmore and Williams became part of a normal rotation, carrying out scientific experiments and routine maintenance like any other astronaut in the rotation in the ISS would. Williams also made a spacewalk.
Williams has repeatedly said that the couple does not feel “abandoned” by the ISS, but that he hoped to return home to see his family and two dogs.
“It has been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more than for us,” he told reporters earlier this month.
