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When astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth for the International Space Station almost three months ago, they ditched their bags for a key piece of equipment. Overseeing the test flight of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft crew, he departed without toiletries and other personal comforts – expecting to return to Earth in a week or so.
Now he has been in the space station for more than 11 weeks, but NASA announced on Saturday that he will remain there until early 2025. astronauts in the Crew Dragon capsule instead.
So what will Williams and Wilmore do with another five or six months in space?
Now they are both guests. They are not part of Expedition 71, the international crew of seven astronauts who are the official staff of the space station. However, NASA says it has seamlessly integrated with the group, taking over the day-to-day tasks of the orbiting laboratory.
But now, Williams and Wilmore are expected to transition into full-time expedition crew members — joining SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronauts, who will launch on the mission as soon as September 24.
As part of Crew-9 and formal expeditions, Williams and Wilmore will perform typical crew duties, such as conducting spacewalks outside the space station, maintaining an orbiting laboratory and conducting a rigorous schedule of science experiments.
And NASA has previously confirmed the Starliner astronauts are ready to make the change.
“A few years ago, we made a decision – knowing that this was a test flight – to make sure that we had the right resources, supplies and training for the crew, if they had to be on the ISS, for whatever reason, for a longer period of time,” said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program, during an Aug. 7 briefing.
“Butch and Suni are fully trained,” Weigel added. “They can and are now with EVA (spacewalks), with robotics, with everything they have to do.”
Join crew-9
SpaceX’s Crew-9 makes routine trips to the space station to resupply the expeditionary staff. The mission is scheduled to fly with four astronauts.
But under NASA’s new plan, the two astronauts will not make the trip. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will be launched on an outbound flight with just two people.
Ballast, or lumps of metal that act as dead weight, will fly along with the two empty seats on Crew-9 to maintain Crew Dragon’s center of gravity, the space agency said at a press conference in early August when it explained contingency plans.
Two Crew-9 astronauts will then join Williams and Wilmore on the space station, and all four will complete Expedition 72, which will also include Russian cosmonauts and is expected to begin in September after the handover period.
As is typical for routine missions to the space station, the Crew-9 astronauts will remain on board for about five or six months — leaving Williams and Wilmore in space for another year and a half in addition to the nearly three months they have already spent. space.
After becoming part of Crew-9, they would settle into a structured routine, with their days usually mapped out by the hour.
Olympics in orbit
Already, the astronauts have happened in some work every day. The latest update from NASA says Williams and Wilmore have used their time so far to maintain the space station, check hardware, manage cargo, inspect Starliner, and help with science experiments and technology demonstrations.
On Friday, for example, Wilmore helped configure a new airlock, built by the US-based company Nanoracks, which will serve as a new entrance to help deploy satellites, experiments and other equipment.
Williams and Wilmore, however, also had the opportunity to have some fun in microgravity. NASA shared footage of the astronauts on July 26 passing around plastic torches on the space station and mimicking Olympic events, including the discus and pommel horse. (Exercise is the main task for astronauts to keep from losing too much muscle and bone while in space.)
Williams, for the record, has proven his chops as a standout board athlete.
In 2012, during his previous trip to the International Space Station, he became the first person to complete a triathlon in space. Williams uses a stationary bike, simulates swimming with a weightlifting machine and runs on a treadmill while strapped in to keep her from floating.
The feat came after he co-ran the Boston Marathon from the space station in 2007.
Williams and Wilmore logged a total of 500 days in space before launching aboard the Starliner test flight. Williams even said he cried after leaving the space station after his last mission in 2012, unsure if he would ever return.
“This flight is a dream come true for him,” said a NASA commentator during the June 5 Starliner live broadcast.
Extended Stay on board
It is not unusual for astronauts to accidentally overstay their time on the space station – for days, weeks or even months.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, is scheduled to spend six months on the International Space Station for his first trip to Earth orbit starting in September 2022. He arrived from his original ride – the Russian Soyuz capsule – when docked to the orbiting outpost.
Rubio’s one-year stay ended up setting the US record for the most continuous days in orbit.
Astronauts also routinely extend their stays on the station for days or weeks at a time for a variety of factors, including poor weather on Earth or other schedule adjustments.
Without a suitcase
Flying to the space station without a pre-packed suitcase may disturb the comfort of the Starliner astronauts. NASA chose to take the luggage off the spacecraft to make room for the pumps needed to repair the broken toilets on the space station.
The two astronauts may finally receive a reprieve after Northrop Grumman’s cargo resupply mission arrived at the space station earlier this month.
“We’d love to open up options so we could have some things like clothing … some personal food for (Williams and Wilmore), things like that,” said Bill Spetch, NASA’s operations integration manager for the International Space Station Program, in a news release.
And there is no indication that the food supply is diminishing over time. Packed aboard Northrop Grumman’s 8,200-pound science experiment and cargo ship are food items that include foods and produce such as squash, radishes, carrots, blueberries, oranges, apples and coffee, according to Spetch.
Weigel also said Saturday that the space agency tends to keep about a four-month supply of food and water on board the space station. And Northrop Grumman’s resupply trip helped replenish that reserve, leaving plenty of extra food for the ISS crew.
“No one should be on a diet or calorie restriction,” says Weigel.
However, NASA said it had to make a quick decision about how Williams and Wilmore would return to Earch because food stores and other resources on the space station were limited.
“When they’re in there, we have extra crew, we have extra hands, and they can do more. But they also use more fuel, more supplies,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate. , earlier this month.
“We need to get them home and get them back to normal crew size on the ISS,” Bowersox added.
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