The two astronauts Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore known to be stayed “Blocked” For 9 months in the International Space Station – but that as we have already explained to you, they have not been trapped at all – they are about to return to the ground, with one Spalshdown off the Florida expected for the 11 pm Italian approximately (18 rooms) after a return journey of about 17 hours. Their postponed return – initially should have remained there only 8 days – is possible following the arrival of the four astronauts of the mission Crew-10 of Spacex (Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi and Kirill Peskov) which took place at 4:30 Italian on Sunday 16 March, after about 28 hours of travel.
Williams and Wilmore, who arrived in the ISS in June 2024 aboard a capsule Starliner of Boeing, they would have to remain only a few days, but their return was postponed because of the malfunctions of the spacecraft already occurred during the outward journey. Contrary to what is read online and recently declared by Elon Muskthe Crew-10 mission It is not a rescue mission Since Wilmore and Williams have already been able to return with the Dragon capsule attracted to the ISS in case of need. It is instead a crew rotation already scheduled For some time.
The return to the land of the two astronauts Wilmore and Williams
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams they will finally be able to return to earth Tuesday 18 March. Their mission in space lasted 9 monthsmuch more than the 9 days initially expected, due to capsule problems Boeing Starliner who did not guarantee the necessary security for the return of astronauts. Their long stay was at the center of a bright political debate In the last two months, with the magnate Elon Munsk who has openly accused the Biden administration of having abandoned the two astronauts on the ISS, thus claiming that the Crew 10 mission was a sort of rescue mission.
In reality the two expert astronauts they never really got stuck On the ISS, since NASA, after the Starliner problem, made two extra seats install in the Crew 8 mission capsule in the event of an emergency. He later decided to use the Crew 9 capsule to report the two astronauts on Earth, which in fact arrived at the end of September on the ISS with only two of the four astronauts who normally alternate on board. Also, both Williams and Wilmore are astronauts well trained to a possible long stay in space. In fact, although 9 months remained on board, they were not simply passengers, but they integrated into the on-board routines, performing scientific experiments and even extra-veicular activities. Crew-10 is therefore a normal mission for the rotation of the crew aboard the ISS.
The reasons for the delays of Crew-10: what happened
The Crew 10 mission would have already had to have arrived on the ISS from at least a monthbut it was delayed for a series of technical problems. The first concerns the capsule itself. Crew 10 should have been traveling with a new Dragon capsule which, however, during the pre-party inspection showed problems for batteries that require long procedures to dismantle them, inspect and replace them. Space X then turned upon the reuse of the Dragon Endurance capsule, which made the launch slip by several weeks to allow the integration tests with the Falcon 9 rocket. The latter also had problems that requested a re-analysis that further delayed the launch. Space X has in fact had to replace some actuators of three Merlin engines of the Falcon 9 rocket.
