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President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has tasked his new Department of Government Efficiency head, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, with bringing home two astronauts who he said have been "abandoned" by the Biden administration. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for the last 8 months and Trump blasted the former president for not acting sooner. "I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on...

The American astronauts who have been stranded in space for seven months have hinted at the toll their unexpected mission is taking. Butch Wilmore, 62, and Sunita Williams, 59, were heard telling NASA bigwigs 'eventually, we want to go home' during a video call on Wednesday. The pair first landed at the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5 and they have been stuck there ever since. Their visit was only supposed to be eight days long. But due to safety concerns, NASA decided to send the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they arrived on back to Earth without anyone inside. In...

Two US astronauts stranded for months on the International Space Station will remain there at least until late March, NASA said Tuesday as it announced another delay in the mission to bring them home. Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and were due to spend eight days on the orbiting laboratory. But problems arose with the Starliner's propulsion system during the flight there, so NASA opted for a big change in plans. After weeks of intensive tests on the Starliner, the space agency decided to return it to Earth...

NASA on Tuesday announced that it would delay its rescue mission for two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS), in order to “complete processing” on a new SpaceX spacecraft that will be used in the operation. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were only expected to be on the station for a week, have been stranded in space since June because of safety issues related to their Boeing spacecraft. The two Americans were expected to be rescued in February, but the operation will now be delayed until at least late March. If they are...

We at Twitchy spend A LOT of time telling you guys about the media and their ridiculous behaviors, but even we were shocked when we found this post from CBS News. A Yazidi woman kidnapped from her home by ISIS terrorists in Iraq when she was just 11 years old has been reunited with her family after years stranded in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Iraqi and Israeli officials said Thursday. https://t.co/r1jQzHxxO3 — CBS News (@CBSNews) October 3, 2024 SERIOUSLY!??! They chose to say the woman who was KIDNAPPED by ISIS was 'stranded'? STRANDED!?!?! We just have no words to adequately...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home, but not until next year. The capsule rocketed into orbit to fetch the test pilots whose Boeing spacecraft returned to Earth empty earlier this month because of safety concerns. The switch in rides left it to NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov to retrieve Needham native Suni Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore. Because NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with...

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The beleaguered Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station will attempt to make its uncrewed return to Earth on Friday evening, the company has announced. NASA on Thursday issued a timeline and a set of criteria for the Starliner's departure from the ISS and return to Earth. The space capsule has faced a host of issues since well before its launch, and continued to experience problems even after arriving at the ISS, which ultimately culminated in Boeing making a deal with competitor SpaceX to bring the astronauts back home in...

The good news is that Boeing was able to update the automated flight software on its troubled Starliner space capsule, allowing NASA to return it unmanned to Earth no sooner than Friday. The bad news — or at least the serious question — is whether Starliner will ever fly again. NASA decided last week not to fly astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home on board the same ship they flew to ISS on due to safety concerns about the service module's malfunctioning thrusters. While an astronaut is sometimes scheduled in advance to return to Earth on board a different...

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have raised alarms about a series of "strange noises" coming from the malfunctioning Starliner capsule as of August 1, 2024. With a long way still to go before making it back to Earth, the veteran astronauts, currently residing on the International Space Station (ISS), are reportedly encountering a ‘pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping,’ according to the recording, first shared by a meteorologist named Rob Dale.

Starliner crew reports hearing strange "sonar like noises" emanating from their craft. This is the real audio of it

Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth just over a week from now with managers setting a date of no earlier than September 6 for undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) and September 7 to land at White Sands in New Mexico. For the Starliner's crew, however, the stay in space will be far from over as the duo will join the Crew-9 mission and return to Earth around February 2025, once the Crew-9 capsule arrives at the ISS. After Starliner departs and until Crew-9 arrives, the only emergency escape system available to the Starliner crew,...

After being stranded on the International Space Station since June, two astronaut castaways may still be months away from returning to Earth—in part because of incompatible space suits. The two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have had to extend what was supposed to be an eight-day trip on the ISS, because of a helium leak and thruster malfunctions on their Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft. NASA and Boeing are testing to see if it’s safe for the astronauts to return on the Boeing Starliner, but are also considering alternatives given the possible risks. NASA has yet to make a decision, but...

NASA on Friday cut two astronauts from the next crew to make room on the return trip for the two stuck at the International Space Station. NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore in February. NASA decided it’s too risky for Williams and Wilmore to fly home in their Boeing Starliner capsule, marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks. Bumped from the SpaceX flight: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson. NASA said they could fly on future...

Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth next year on a SpaceX vehicle in yet another humiliating blow to Boeing's reputation.NASA's Plan B: Why SpaceX Is Completing Boeing's Starliner Mission | 6:40The Wall Street Journal | 5.53M subscribers | 389,477 views | August 24, 2024

Boeing employees are “humiliated” after NASA announced that two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station by the company’s troubled Starliner space capsule will have to be rescued by Elon Musk’s upstart rival SpaceX, one worker told The Post. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who went up the ISS in June for what was supposed to be an 8-day mission — will have to wait another six months until a SpaceX Crew Dragon space craft can carry them safely home because their original ride is leaking helium and has problems with its thrusters. The Florida-based staffer...

The Boeing Starliner crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are to return to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle in February, NASA officials announced Saturday. The Starliner spacecraft itself will be unmanned when it returns in early September. NASA announced the decision at Johnson Space Center following a test flight readiness review meeting. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the decision was due to a "commitment to safety."

The two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been stranded in space for 80 days will stay in space for another six months, NASA officials announced Saturday. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now expected to return to Earth in February, while the Starliner will be brought back unmanned. Veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner back on June 5 — the maiden crewed voyage for the spacecraft — for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission docked to the International Space Station. The test flight, however, encountered thruster failures and helium leaks so serious that NASA...

Boeing Starliner program manager Mark Nappi ... it's no surprise that the company's Starliner crewed flight test is taking longer than expected — so far, almost ten times longer than expected. NASA astronauts Butch Williams and Suni Wilmore are on Day 77 of their eight-day stay aboard the International Space Station. Nappi says he regrets not doing a better job of managing expectations. "I think we all knew that it was going to go longer than that.. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about how much longer, but I think it’s my regret that we didn’t just say...

NASA needs to decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a SpaceX craft, officials said Wednesday. NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams blasted off for the ISS on Starliner on June 5 for what was meant to be an eight-day stay. But their return has been delayed by thruster malfunctions that came to light during the first crewed mission to the ISS by the Boeing spacecraft. NASA officials, at a press conference on Wednesday,...

NASA is grappling with a critical decision regarding the return of astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) amid concerns over the Boeing Starliner’s autonomous undocking capabilities and the spacecraft’s potential to damage one of only two docking ports on the space station. ... plagued by multiple technical issues, significantly extending the originally planned eight-day mission. As NASA deliberates on the best course of action for bringing the astronauts home, a surprising revelation has emerged regarding the Starliner’s flight software. ... the current flight software onboard the Starliner lacks the ability to perform an automated...