SpaceX Crew Dragon, which will bring back the astronauts who went to the ISS with the Boeing Starliner, set out as part of the recently organized mission.
As you know, Boeing Starliner left the ISS at the beginning of the month. “empty” turned back. Boeing Starliner remained attached to the ISS for much longer than it should due to technical problems. He landed in New Mexico without any problems using three different parachutes. The astronauts who were transported to the ISS with Starliner remained on the ISS because the spacecraft was not reliable. So how will astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were taken to the ISS with Starliner, be brought back? Making a statement on this subject, NASA said: He announced that the astronauts on the ISS would be brought back by SpaceX. Today, SpaceX took the expected step and launched a Falcon 9-based For the Crew-9 mission It had a smooth takeoff. This time, not four people went to the ISS with the Crew Dragon spacecraft, but two people, as space was reserved for Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams (NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov) was taken away. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will return in February.
Liftoff of Crew-9! pic.twitter.com/laQRTLp4vC
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2024
NASA, which had to make a statement about what happened last month, He stated that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were not stranded in space, contrary to what was said. NASA Administrator Steve Stich said in a statement: “I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space. Our plan is still to bring them back with the Starliner. We want to return them home at the right time. “We have a little more work to do for final return, but they are safe on the space station.” he said.
Last month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s statement about Starliner also made a splash. Musk picture from your account, “Boeing received $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule, while SpaceX received only $2.6 billion. Despite this, SpaceX finished its own capsule 4 years early. Note also that Dragon 2’s crew capsule design has almost nothing in common with Dragon 1. “There are too many managers at Boeing who do not have sufficient technical knowledge.” had criticized.