Administrator Bill Nelson from the government agency, announces during a press conference that Butch Willmore and Suni Williams, who are currently stuck at the International Space Station, will return on a Crew Dragon capsule early next year.
#nasa #astronaut #new #2024 #space #Internationalspace
#nasa #astronaut #new #2024 #space #Internationalspace
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NewsTranscript
00:00Our core value is safety, and it is our North Star.
00:07NASA reveals a new plan to bring home the stranded astronauts in space.
00:12On August 24th, Administrator Bill Nelson from the government agency announces during a press conference
00:20that Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, who are currently stuck at the International Space Station,
00:25will return on a Crew Dragon capsule earlier next year.
00:29The vessel, made by SpaceX, is due to travel to the ISS in September with four astronauts as part of a routine mission.
00:38Two of its seats will be kept empty for Butch and Sonny, who will travel back to Earth on it in February of 2025.
00:46NASA has decided that Butch and Sonny will return with Crew 9 next February,
00:54and that Starliner will return uncrewed.
01:00And so the decision to keep Butch and Sonny aboard the International Space Station
01:06and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety.
01:15Our core value is safety, and it is our North Star.
01:22The two had traveled to the orbiting space station on a Boeing Starliner capsule on June 5th.
01:28Their inaugural test mission, which was originally set to last eight days,
01:33experienced thruster failures and helium leaks before docking safely,
01:37prompting NASA to postpone the pair's return to Earth by months
01:42and discuss whether to fix the spacecraft and bring them back on it or use SpaceX.
01:48NASA says in a statement that Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew 9 mission launches
01:54to ensure a docking port is available on the ISS.
01:58Butch and Sonny's Starliner flight marked the first time the vessel had carried a crew,
02:03and NASA had hoped to certify the spacecraft for routine flights had the mission gone off without a hitch.
02:10Boeing plans to continue to work to fix its problems once it returns to Earth,
02:15with Nelson adding during the press conference,
02:17I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision.
02:28We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements
02:35so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.
02:45Earlier this month, the families of Butch and Sonny shared insight into how the astronauts
02:51are dealing with their extended time on the ISS and the uncertainty about their return.
02:57SUNY's husband, Michael Williams, told the Wall Street Journal
03:01he didn't think she was disappointed to wind up spending more time at the space station,
03:06adding, quote, that's her happy place.
03:09Butch's wife, Deanna Wilmore, told local Knoxville, Tennessee, TV station WVLT
03:16that his family didn't expect him back until, quote, February or March
03:21and said her husband, quote, just takes it knowing the Lord's in control
03:25and that since the Lord's in control of it, that he's content where he is.
03:31NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology