Space drama: Astronauts Williams and Wilmore finally return!

Space drama: Astronauts Williams and Wilmore finally return!

Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA - The space company SpaceX, under the direction of the billionaire Elon Musk, is planning a new attempt to bring the US astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, which have been stuck at the international space station for nine months. The start of the Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for Friday, March 15, 2025, at 7:03 p.m. href = "https://www.oe24.at/businesslive/mus-space-soll-festsitzende-us-astronauten-heim-belen/626889868"> oe24.at reported. This mission, known as Crew 10, will also bring astronauts Nicole Ayers and Anne McClain as well as the Russian cosmonauts Kirill Peskow and the Japanese Takuya Onishi to change the crew.

Originally, Wilmore and Williams were supposed to return home in June 2024, but the return due to technical problems with the Boeing Starliner room capsule, which brought them to the ISS, was delayed. The two astronauts were thus integrated into the expedition 72 crew, with Williams even becoming the commander. There was a political discourse for this prolonged mission; President Trump and Musk expressed that the extended period of stay in weightlessness was politically motivated to discredit the bidely administration, such as npr.org reported. However, former NASA officers rejected these claims and pointed out technical reasons.

technical challenges and return planning

According to current NASA representatives, there were several technical and safety-relevant aspects that influenced the return of Williams and Wilmore. The original return-flight capsule project was rejected on the basis of budgetary and security considerations. In the event of a possible earlier return flight, Williams and Wilmore had lost the tailor -made seats in the capsule, which could have caused injuries when returning. It was therefore decided that the current plan to request a new capsule was the best option to ensure the safety of the astronauts. Even if the two astronauts worked on their time on the ISS and did experiments, they are happy to return to Earth soon.