The replacement for the two stuck astronauts of NASA started on Friday evening to the international space station and paved the way for the couple’s return after nine long months.
Butch Wilmore and Sununi Williams need SpaceX to bring this auxiliary team to the space station before you can see yourself. The arrival is for the late Saturday evening.
NASA wants to overlap between the two crews so that Wilmore and Williams can fill the newcomers to events on board the circulation. That would bring that for an overturn and a splash of Florida next week, which allows the weather.
The duo is flew back by astronauts who reserved Wilmore and Williams with two empty seats last September.
The latest crew reaches the orbit of the Kennedy Space Center of NASA and includes NASA anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots. and Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. You will spend the next six months in the space station that will be seen as a normal stay after jumping freely.
“Spaceflight is tough, but people are harder,” said McClain minutes.
2 astronauts should only be gone for a week
Wilmore and Williams expected only a week as test pilots for Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, when they were started from Cape Canaveral on June 5. A number of helium losing and separating signs examined their trip to the space station and examined and defeated by NASA for months and defeated how best it is.
Finally, NASA called the Starliner empty last September, moving Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight that was due in February. Your return was further delayed when the brand new capsule from SpaceX needed extensive battery savings before starting. To save a few weeks, SpaceX switched to a used capsule and moved to Wilmore and Williams’ return to Wilmore and Williams.
Mission takes a political turn
Her unexpectedly long mission already attracted the attention of the world and took a political turn when Elon Musk swore US President Donald Trump and SpaceX at the beginning of this year to accelerate the return of the astronauts and blame the previous administration to take a standstill.
Wilmore and Williams have repeatedly emphasized the retired marine captains who previously lived in the space station that they have been supporting the decisions of their NASA bosses since last summer. The two helped to keep the station going – to repair a broken toilet, water plants and carry out experiments – and even went together on a space. With nine space walks, Williams set up a new record for women: most of the time that spent a career in the room.
A last-minute hydraulic edition delayed the first start attempt on Wednesday. A concern was caused by one of the two clamping marks on the support structure of the Falcon Rocket, which has to dump back shortly before the incline. SpaceX later washed up the hydraulic system of the arm and removed trapped air.
The duo’s extended stay was the most difficult, they said in their families – Wilmores wife and two daughters as well as William’s husband and mother. Apart from the reunification with you, Wilmore, a elder of the church, is looking forward to returning to personal servants, and Williams can hardly wait to go with her two Labrador retrievers.
“We appreciate all the love and support of everyone,” said Williams in an interview at the beginning of this week. “This mission has attracted a little attention. Then they were and Bads. But I think the good part is that more and more people were interested in what we are doing” with researching space.
