BOEING’S Starliner made its way towards Earth without its crew on Friday night after Nasa deemed the problem-plagued spaceship too risky to carry the astronauts.
The spacecraft blasted off from the International Space Station (ISS) shortly after 6 pm ET, leaving behind pilot Sunita Williams and commander Butch Wilmore.
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The spacecraft is scheduled to touch down in New Mexico’s White Sands Middle Range around 12 am ET.
Williams and Wilmore were scheduled to return on the Starliner in June, however, the capsule experienced helium leaks and thruster failures.
Despite Boeing’s plea that the Starliner was safe to carry the stranded spacemen, Nasa insisted against taking the risk.
While the astronauts were only meant to spend a week in space, they are now looking to return sometime in February of next year.
Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to hitch a ride back home on Elon Musk’s Space X Crew Dragon spacecraft.
After Williams prepared the Starliner for its descent back to Earth, the astronaut called the moment “bittersweet,” as per CBS News.
“Thanks for backing us up, thanks for looking over our shoulder and making sure we’ve got everything in the right place,” Williams told flight controllers.
“We want her to have a nice, soft landing in the desert.”
While Williams and Wilmore remain at the ISS, the two have been working as full-time crew members.
They have been helping with maintenance and experiments while focusing on their health due to unexpected prolonged exposure in space.
According to Kyle Zagrodzky, the founder of OsteoStrong, staying in space for a longer time than planned will affect their body “poorly.”
“Even if they’re exercising, they’re not getting sufficient force on their bones.
“They may have, in eight months in outer space, 10 to 20 years of bone loss even with exercise.”
Astronauts normally spend around six months at the ISS, however, Wilmore and Williams journey would be around eight months by the time they depart the station.
TROUBLED CAPSULE
The $1.5 billion spacecraft has seen a number of issues since its first flight test in 2019.
What is the ISS?
Here’s what you need to know about the International Space Station (ISS).
- The International Space Station is a large spacecraft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the station to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
However, the spacecraft had multiple software errors.
The Starliner’s journey to the ISS with Wilmore and Williams was the spacecraft’s third attempt.
The first time around, it failed due to a faulty oxygen valve on the rocket.
An error in a ground launch sequence stalled the second.
Just last week, Wilmore contacted the Johnson Space Centre after hearing an alerting sound just days before the capsule was set to depart the ISS.
“I’ve got a question about Starline,” Wilmore reported.
“There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker… I don’t know what’s making it.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Mission control evaluated the noise, which a NASA spokesperson confirmed to be an audio configuration issue.
“The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback.”
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