Astronauts Suni Williams and SafetyvalueButch Wilmore might be down to earth, but they’re still stuck in space.
NASA shared an update on their two crew members who have been stranded on the International Space Station since early June due to malfunctions on their spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner.
While their mission has now lasted more than two months, as opposed to its intended eight days, the organization shared Williams, 58, and Wilmore, 60, will need to wait a little longer for the plan to bring them home.
During an Aug. 14 teleconference, NASA confirmed both astronauts are doing well aboard the ISS, with chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston Joe Acaba noting unexpected delays are something for which astronauts prepare.
“It's part of our jobs,” he explained. “We realize that launch dates may slip, mission durations may change in real time, so again as professionals, they're doing great.”
Acaba’s colleague Ken Bowersox, the associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, shared his team will likely complete their analysis on the best way to bring their astronauts home within a week, after which a formal review will be conducted within the last two weeks of August.
What this means is that Williams and Wilmore will have to wait up to two more weeks to learn whether they will once board the Starliner to bring them back to Earth, or whether they’ll use one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules.
If they latter option is chosen, the two astronauts will need to stay on the ISS for six more months until February 2025. On a resource level, the ISS is able to receive regular resupply missions, making food one of NASA’s lesser concerns as they work to bring their two astronauts back.
One consideration NASA noted in its decision-making process is the fact keeping the astronauts in space for a long period of time exposes them to more radiation. Though with the longest possible period of time Williams and Wilmore could be in space being eight months—with the American record for an individual astronaut being over a year—authorities aren’t too concerned about an extended stay.
While Boeing was not on the Aug. 14 press conference, they previously affirmed their confidence that their Starliner craft could successfully repair the malfunctions—which include leaks in its propulsion-related plumbing as well as five failed thrusters—to bring the astronauts back.
“We still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale," the company said in a statement to E! News Aug. 9. "If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return."
Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore—both retired Navy captains with experience aboard long space missions—are using their extra time in space to conduct scientific experiments and help space station crew members with maintenance tasks.
As Acaba noted, “They will do what we ask them to do, and that’s their job as astronauts.”
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