The two astronauts stuck in space, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are both stuck in the International Space Station (ISS). They were expected to stay there for 8 days, now they have already been there for 75 days, almost 10 times longer than expected. And what is more concerning, they may have to stay there for another 6 months.
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Why are they stuck?
The two astronauts were the first two astronauts to test the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft. They managed to successfully arrive to the ISS. But the Starliner suffered helium gas leaks and issues with its thrusters.
The helium leak began before taking off, but as the leak was minimal the engineers agreed that it would not cause any trouble for the mission, therefore the 5th of June, the Starliner launched.
Once in space, 4 more helium lakes occurred, thus, the return was postponed to the 26th of June, but that was postponed again.
NASA states that in the case of an emergency, the two astronauts could return using the Starliner, but NASA wants to investigate what was the cause of the gas leaks. Which can’t be investigated once in Earth, as the re-entry on Earth, would burn up some of the key information about the leaks. Making the origin of the helium leaks untraceable.
Possible solutions.
If the Starliner cause of the leaks is not found and fix in a long while, eventually some spacecraft will have to go and save them.
The main option right now is the SpaceX Dragon capsule, but Boeing and NASA don’t want to opt for this option as of right now, as it would be really embarrassing for them. If they finally had to come back with the Dragon, that would mean they would probably have to stay there until 2025.
How will they survive?
Right now they are in a safe place, the ISS launched over 25 years ago and has been going since. Right now, there are 9 astronauts on the ISS, from 4 different missions.
Also, supplies have been sent to the crew in the ISS, with the Russian unpiloted Progress 89 spacecraft, which delivered over three tons worth of supplies.
Final decision (24th of August)
The 24th of August, NASA finally shared their final decision.
NASA communicated that returning the two astronauts to Earth with the Boeing Starliner is too risky. Therefore, they have decided to let SpaceX bring the two astronauts back.
They are going to come back in February 2025. But, as already mentioned, this long stay is not really risky, as the International Space Station (ISS) is a safe place, where they can receive all the supplies they need from Earth.
Personal opinion.
I think we can all agree, this is very embarrassing for space development.
Most people agree that as they knew they had some gas leaks, they shouldn’t have launched in the first place, but the truth is that is a much harder decision, there are a lot of money and expectations in the line. You can not just shut down a mission, unless it is highly likely to end fatally, which was not this case.
But as events turned out to be, and they do not want to bring the Starliner back to Earth, and they have solid reasons for this. But it is untolerable that two astronauts are left in space without having a clear date when they will come back.
I believe NASA and Boeing, should try to come with a realistic date for when they will come back, and if they are unable to provide that for any reason, I believe the most reasonable alternative is giving SpaceX the task to bring the two astronauts home as soon as possible.
Even though this may seem as a failure from NASA and Boeing to the public, I believe there is nothing wrong in humbling down and giving SpaceX the credit for successfully bringing the astronauts back home.
I do not think that space companies and agencies should be competing with each others, at least not in a harmful way. It is great that each one wants to make better and better improvements to have the best technologies, but not risking other astronauts.
Update (24th of August): I believe NASA has taken the best decision. Although the two astronauts are going to have to stay in the ISS for a long while, they now have a clear date to when they are going to come back. And I appreciate that NASA had no issue in letting SpaceX bring back the two astronauts.
Also, I think it is important to point out, that now the two astronauts are going to come in much safer conditions. As the Starliner leaks may lead to major issues, we are not aware yet.