Posted on 08/07/2024 1:15:15 PM PDT by DFG
The two astronauts who have already been stuck in space for more than 60 days may have to wait until early 2025 before they can return to Earth — following a trip to the International Space Station that was supposed to last just eight days.
NASA also acknowledged that the astronauts, who arrived on the maiden voyage of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, may have to be rescued by the rival SpaceX CrewDragon, though that vessel won’t be ready until February.
On Wednesday, NASA announced another delay in bringing home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams during a news conference, with the agency saying it’s now looking more closely at an alternative plan utilizing SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
If tests in the coming weeks suggest that making the trip home on Starliner proves too risky, Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said Wilmore and Williams would have no choice but to hop on Crew-9’s return flight in February 2025.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Seven births.
That's how Earth was colonized.
“A Three Hour Cruise.
Might not be too bad for an updated Gilligan’s Island Series”
There was the “Gilligan’s Planet” cartoon series.
I listened to Press Conference
Or as I describe as a NASA Spin Conference.
a three-hour cruise
-PJ
SpaceX Dragon was designed to fly 7 in a 4 + 3 two deck setup. For the love of all that is holy just send up crew 9 with the second row installed. Once at the ISS use the robot arm to move and hold that junker of starliner out of the docking port long enough to pull the seats and put them in the already docked Dragon then fly home with 4+2 in that Dragon. It’s not rocket science...or use the fact that Dragon can fly itself and undock the existing Dragon fly it a few Km away and hold just like they do for every normal arrival. Then fly in Crew 9 dock it pull the seats and undock it swap back in the other Dragon and fly home with 6. The absolute simplest is to fly Crew 9 with 6 seats and use it to bring NASA guys plus the older Dragon crew home home leaving the other Dragon to fly home Crew 9 Dragon has like a year of endurance docked to the ISS that older Dragon can just stay longer. This last way means dumping the Boeing turd for docking space before crew 9 gets there.
It was originally scheduled for Aug 18, we'll see if this one works out.
How could they have enough supplies to last that long?
That’s what happens when you hire a libtard idiot to run NASA
Space stations may prove to be effective penal colonies over the next decade.
—
Uppity prisoner’s cell and cell blocks could simply be de-orbited, solving the problem on the cheap.
Plus the suits are incompatible with Dragon. Dragon suits are individually made. Also, Dragon seats are incompatible with the crew’s NASA suits.
And a prime contractor that fires engineers and hires useless DEI drones to work in QA. I speak from experience.
I thought of “Marooned” with Gregory Peck.
but no Ginger or Mary Ann
Have you seen the female? I don’t think any spouses have anything to worry about.
Article says they would return on the Dragon that is scheduled to take Crew 9 to the ISS, and that won’t occur until February 2025. Another potential problem is that this particular Starliner capsule doesn’t have the software installed to enable it to undock or deorbit autonomously. They’re discussing a possible software upgrade, done remotely, but that’s apparently a little dicey as well. If they decide to bring the astronauts home on Dragon, then the Starliner can’t safely undock if they can’t upgrade the software, which would leave it occupying a needed docking port. They can’t just jettison it, because without autonomous navigation capability, it could hit the ISS. What a spectacular mess Boeing has created (yet again).
There was that atrocious Gilligan’s Planet” cartoon.
The Exosquad cartoon went with the concept of flinging the unwanted towards the sun.
Naturally the good guys were rescued before burning up.
Gilligan’s Space Station
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.