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Two astronauts stranded in space may sound like the start to a big-screen science thriller, but the Boeing Starliner mission is no work of Hollywood fiction.<\/p>\n
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams were originally scheduled to spend a little more than a week aboard the International Space Station as part of the debut crew flight test of the Starliner.<\/p>\n
However, the spacecraft encountered several issues during the flight, and now the two astronauts will likely have to extend their stay aboard the ISS for several months.<\/p>\n
NASA will issue a decision by mid-August as to whether Wilmore and Williams can return on board Starliner, or if they will have to wait for their retrieval by a SpaceX craft.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the call made, the two professional astronauts are prepared to weather the storm.<\/p>\n
“Butch and Suni are ready to do whatever we need them to do,” said Steve Stich, a senior NASA official, earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Both astronauts have worked as test pilots for the US Navy, and each has already flown to the ISS twice before.<\/p>\n
Wilmore, the mission commander, had spent 178 days in space prior to the Boeing mission, while Williams, the pilot, had even more experience, with 322 days under her belt.<\/p>\n
“We are having a great time here on ISS,” Williams said during a press conference in July.<\/p>\n
The pair had been actively involved in the Starliner’s development for several years in preparation for its first manned test flight.<\/p>\n
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Dana Weigel, NASA’s ISS program manager, said this week that Williams and Wilmore are “fully trained” for their extended stay in space.<\/p>\n
“A couple years ago, we made the decision knowing that this was a test flight to make sure that we had the right resources, supplies and training for the crew, just in case they needed to be on ISS for whatever reason, for a longer period of time,” she said.<\/p>\n
While stuck aboard the ISS, the two astronauts are not sitting around twiddling their thumbs; rather, they play an active part in assisting the seven other astronauts on board with their daily work.<\/p>\n
“It’s been helpful to have the extra set of hands on board,” Weigel said.<\/p>\n
‘Top Gun’ fan Wilmore<\/h2>\n
The usual duration of an astronaut’s mission to the ISS is six months, with some even spending about year aboard the flying laboratory, which has been permanently inhabited for nearly a quarter century.<\/p>\n
The estimated stay of Wilmore and Williams of about eight months would not be out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
However, their friends and families expected to see them back much sooner.<\/p>\n
Wilmore, 61, is married with two daughters.<\/p>\n
A native of Tennessee and a deeply religious man, he is also a fan of the “Top Gun” film series about US Navy pilots.<\/p>\n
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He was selected to become an astronaut in 2000 and has since completed four spacewalks during his career.<\/p>\n
Wilmore first visited the ISS in 2009 aboard the now-defunct NASA Space Shuttles. He later returned in 2014-2015 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.<\/p>\n
For the Starliner flight, he switched to manual piloting before the craft docked at the ISS, which he praised for its precision.<\/p>\n
“I really give Butch a lot of credit,” Williams said in a pre-flight press conference about her mission partner. “It’s easy to just say, ‘Yep, that’s good. Let’s just go.’ But he asked the question ‘why’ all the time.”<\/p>\n
Jacques Cousteau in space<\/h2>\n
Williams, 58, has completed no less than seven spacewalks over the course of her career, having also flown aboard a US Space Shuttle and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.<\/p>\n
She was the one who christened the Boeing capsule used for the mission “Calypso,” in honor of the ship manned by famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.<\/p>\n
“When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to go watch his TV shows to see what he was going to explore,” Williams said ahead of the flight.<\/p>\n
Williams also has the distinction of being the first person to complete a triathlon in space by using a special device to simulate swimming.<\/p>\n
In her spare time, she enjoys repairing cars and planes with her husband.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMeet the two Boeing mission astronauts stuck aboard the ISS (2024, August 10)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 10 August 2024
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