SpaceX rocket docks as stranded Nasa astronauts prepare to return from ISS

A SpaceX rocket bearing a new crew has accosted the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a plan to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams astronauts.

The pair had to be on the ISS for only eight days, but due to technical problems with the experimental spacecraft on which they have arrived, they have been there for more than nine months.

Astronauts should start their trip to earth two days after the new crew arrived. Steve Stich, director of the NASA commercial crew program, said he was delighted with the prospect.

“Butch and Suni have done an excellent job and we are delighted to bring them back,” he said.

Astronauts, as well as their workmates from ISS, Nick Hague and Roscosmos Cosmonaut de la Nasa, Gorbunov, will be relieved by four astronauts, Russia, Japan and two of the United States.

There will be a two -day transfer, after which the old crew should start their trip to Earth. But there could be a small additional time, because they are waiting for the conditions on Earth to be right to return safely from the return capsule, according to Dana Weigel, director of the ISS program.

“Time must always cooperate, so we will take our time for that if it is not favorable,” she told journalists.

Weigel explained that astronauts had started to prepare for the transfer last week.

“Butch sounded a bell of ceremonies while Suni gave command to the cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin,” she said.

Astronauts have always said that they were happy to be on the space station, Suni Williams describing him as his “happy place”. But Dr. Simeon Barber, of the open university, told BBC News that there would likely have been a personal cost.

“When you are sent on a work trip which should last a week, you do not expect it to take the best part of the year,” he said.

“This prolonged stay in space will have disrupted family life, things will have happened at the house they have missed, so there will be an upheaval period.”

Butch and Suni arrived at the ISS in early June 2024 to test an experimental spacecraft called Starliner, which was built by the Boeing aerospace firm, a SpaceX rival.

The mission had been delayed by several years due to technical problems in the development of the spaceship, and there were problems when it was launched and reception at the ISS. This included problems with some of Starliner’s propellants, which would be necessary to slow down the spacecraft to enter the earth’s atmosphere and gas helium leaks in the propulsion system.

NASA has decided that it wouldn’t even take a little risk to bring Butch and Suni back to Starliner, when they had the opportunity to return them to the Dragon Capsule of SpaceX. NASA decided that the best option was to do so during a planned crew rotation, even if it would mean keeping astronauts on the space station for several months.

Boeing has always argued that it would have been sure to bring Butch and Suni to Starliner, and that he was unhappy with the decision to use the capsule of a rival, which will be “embarrassing” for Boeing, according to Dr. Barber.

“It is not a good look for Boeing to see the astronauts they took in the space to come back in the profession of a competitor.”

President Trump Trump and the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that Butch and Suni could have been brought home earlier, more recently Joint interview with Fox News in February.

President Trump says: “They were left in space.”

When the interviewer, Sean Hannity, develops, saying “they were supposed to be eight days. They are there almost 300”, Mr. Trump replied with a word: “Biden”. Mr. Musk follows to assert: “They were left up there for political reasons.”

The affirmation is refused by Steve Stitch of NASA.

“We have examined a wide range of options and worked hand in hand with SpaceX to look at the best thing to do overall and when we said it all, the best option was to have the one we train,” he said.

This decision was supported by Dr. Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum in London and worked at the European Control Center for the ISS.

“The well-being of Butch and Suni would have always been at the forefront of everyone’s mind when decisions were made for the best way to manage the circumstances presented to them,” she said.

“NASA has made these decisions based on good technical reasons, on programmatic reasons, and found the right solution that kept Butch and Suni safe.

“I can’t wait to see them go back to Earth, safe and sound, as well as the rest of their teammates.”