Stranded US astronauts to return home after nine months in space
Two NASA astronauts are expected to come home this month after being stranded in space since June.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were originally scheduled for an eight-day mission, but their return was complicated when the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing was deemed unsafe for the journey home.
The pair are waiting for their replacements to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) next week before they can check out.
Ms Williams said the hardest part about the unexpected extended stay was the wait by their families back home, and she couldn’t wait to be reunited with her Labrador retrievers.
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” she said.
“We’re here. We have a mission. We’re just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun.“
US President Donald Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk said at the end of January that they wanted to accelerate the astronauts’ return, blaming the previous administration.
Mr Musk recently clashed online with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who accused him of lying in a Fox News interview when he claimed the astronauts were abandoned for “political reasons”.
Mr Mogensen said since the Boeing Starliner was deemed unsafe for return with people aboard, NASA had planned for months to bring Wilmore and Williams back on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS in September with two spare seats.
Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has accused Elon Musk of lying in an interview when he claimed the astronauts were abandoned for “political reasons”. (AP: John Raoux)
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams homecoming was further delayed by extra completion time needed for the brand new SpaceX capsule that was supposed to deliver their replacements.
Last month, NASA announced the next crew would launch in a used capsule instead, pushing up lift-off to March 12.
The two crews will spend about a week together aboard the space station before Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams depart with NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov.
Mr Musk’s response to Mr Mogensen included a slur for people with intellectual disabilities, sparking backlash from the space community.
Former NASA twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly defended Mr Mogensen and criticised the SpaceX founder.
Two years ago, Frank Rubio became the first NASA astronaut to spend over a year in space after a meteoroid damaged the Russian Soyuz spacecraft he arrived on.
In 2003, when a shuttle disintegrated during re-entry, NASA suspended flights for two years, forcing astronauts to rely on Soyuz and extend their missions.
AP/AFP
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