Stuck in a Space Jam

Have you ever looked up to space and wondered what’s happening there? But have you ever wondered about being stuck in space? Butch Wilslmore and Suni Williams, experts in space expeditions, launched into space for only eight days on June 6th. Then the day came when they would come back home peacefully, or so they thought. Now NASA claims they won’t be returning till’ next February in 2025! Why? 

What’s the big deal? 

The problem was that one of the 28 thrusters’ seals began to expand in the heat and block the fuel. This is a major problem as the thrusters steer the ship to Earth and angle it perfectly so it can land without crashing. On August 25th NASA had an update announcement in which Bill Nelson stated, “This whole discussion remember is put in the context of we have had mistakes done in the past…”  In a later announcement, he brought up the Colombian accident, which may be why he said this in the earlier one. For those of you who don’t know, the Colombian accident was a terrible incident where several astronauts died 15 minutes before landing because a piece of the ship fell off and hit the wings.  Because of this they decided not to risk their lives and to wait till next year. With these problems at hand, how will Butch and Suni come home?

The Way Home
While they are stuck in space, NASA has kept these two astronauts safe and secure, but the real question still stands. How will they come home? As NASA has planned and announced, they will land the Boeing Starliner Ship without the crew and the SpaceX Crew Dragon ship will launch into space late Sectember. This way they can see if the spaceship is safe without endangering them. The SpaceX ship will be a rocket meant for four crew, but when it launches only two people will be in it with two empty seats. The SpaceX Crew will pick up the crew 9 astronauts and they will fill in the empty seats.  Butch and Suni will stay with the crew and continue with their experiments on the ship until the Crew Dragon returns to Earth, in 2025.

This spaceship shown above is an example of the ship NASA will use to bring back Butch Willmore and Suni Williams. 

A Spaceship Without a Crew

As Suni and Butch prepared their ship to return without them it was a “bittersweet” moment as Suni called it. “We want to make sure she’s in good shape. We want to give her a nice soft landing in the desert!” NASA planned to bring the Boeing Starliner back without its crew just to play it safe, and it worked! The Starliner landed almost perfectly in the hot sands in White Sands Harbor New Mexico on September 6th. It was kinda sad for the crew that they could have come home that day, but instead have to wait almost 8 months when it should have been 8 days.

The Boeing Starliner returned to Earth on Sectember 7th on

So… See You Next Near?

In conclusion, NASA’s Crew 9 arrival will be postponed till next year. All because one thruster abruptly stopped working. Optimistic Butch Willmore and Suni are ok with waiting an additional 8 months but are eager to go home. Especially after watching a successful landing in their space capsule in New Mexico. Did NASA make the right decision?

Works Cited