NASA has decided to accelerate the return mission of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, two American astronauts who have been on board the international space station since June.
THETwo blocked astronauts NASA could return to earth a little earlier than expected.
The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX would change capsule for the next flights of astronauts to bring butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back in mid-March instead of the end of March or April.
Their prolonged stay at the International Space Station (ISS) crossed the eight -month course last week after what was supposed to be a one -week trip.
“Habitized space flights are full of unexpected challenges“Said Steve Stich, head of the NASA commercial crew program, in a press release.
The test pilots should have returned in June aboard Boeing Starliner capsulebut it had so much difficulty reaching the space station that NASA decided to bring it empty and entrust the couple to SpaceX.
SpaceX then delayed the launch of their replacements aboard a brand new capsule, which lengthened the duration of the mission of Wilmore and Williams.
NASA has chosen to take off its next crew aboard an older capsule, takeoff being now scheduled for March 12, preferring that a new crew arrives before returning the old, in this case Wilmore, Williams And two other people who have been there since September.
The new crew includes two NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian astronaut.
The latest NASA plan change comes two weeks after the space agency said it worked “quickly“To bring back Wilmore and Williams as soon as possible. One day earlier, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, from SpaceX, were committed to accelerating the return of astronauts.
