Latest news with #SuniWilliams
UPI
6 days ago
- Science
- UPI
Boeing looks for Starliner fixes despite costs, ISS age
1 of 4 | The Boeing Company has confirmed it continues to look for solutions to problems with its Starliner spacecraft that have left the over-budget project unable to carry passengers. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo July 18 (UPI) -- The Boeing Company has confirmed it continues to look for solutions to problems with its Starliner spacecraft that have left the over-budget project unable to carry passengers. Boeing confirmed this week it is pushing ahead and trying to address helium plug seal leaks on the spacecraft, as well as problems with its thermal shunts and issues with overheating thrusters. The company's officials have already said the spacecraft's next flight won't happen until at least early next year and likely will carry only cargo, with no crew. Boeing is working with its propulsion supplier, California-based defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, to find solutions to the ongoing issues. The Boeing Starliner has been plagued by problems, is already more than $2 billion over budget and currently grounded at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first test flight took pace in June of 2024. It last flew in September 2024 when it returned unmanned from the International Space Station, landing at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. The crewless return was out of precaution because of helium leaks and thruster issues and left the two-person NASA crew stranded aboard the ISS. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams only returned to earth this past March aboard a SpaceX Dragon rocket with that company's crew. Wilmore and Williams spent nine months in space because of the issues with Boeing's Starliner. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing's Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time. "I'm grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work." Boeing announced the Starliner program in 2010 and originally forecast the ship would be in regular service by 2015 to help carry NASA personnel to and from the ISS. Over a decade later, issues persist and the company has yet to begin a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA. "We really are working toward a flight as soon as early next year with Starliner, and then ultimately, our goal is to get into crew rotation flights with Starliner," NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich told reporters this week. "And those would start no earlier than the second crew rotation slot at the end of next year." The work continues despite NASA predictions the ISS will deorbit and crash in the South Pacific Ocean near Point Nemo in January of 2031. Former President Joe Biden's administration said the space station would remain in service until 2030, after it was launched in 1998. Boeing stock was down $2.42 or 1.05% to $228.58 as of noon Friday. Shares were also in the red for the week as a whole.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Astronauts Blasted Off to Space for Short Mission. They Ended Up Being 'Stranded' for Nearly 300 Days
On June 5, 2024, two NASA astronauts set off in a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for a trip that turned into a nine-month stay at the International Space Station The Starliner faced helium leaks and issues with the reaction control thrusters as it approached the space station — and over the coming months, their return home kept getting delayed 286 days later, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on March 18Back in June 2024, two NASA astronauts had no idea that their mission, which was supposed to take less than two weeks, would turn into a nine-month stay at the International Space Station. One year later after liftoff, PEOPLE is looking back at the Boeing Starliner saga. Even before Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched into space on June 5, 2024 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, their mission faced a series of delays. That May, the astronauts were strapped into the spacecraft and just hours away from launch when the flight was canceled because of an issue with the rocket that helped propel the vehicle, according to NBC News. While working to address the issue, a helium leak in the propulsion system was discovered, NASA reported at the time. Almost a month later, on June 1, the spacecraft was less than four minutes away from liftoff when the ground launch sequencer — the computer that launches the rocket — triggered an automatic hold. A launch the following day was also scrubbed. After successfully launching into space, the astronauts arrived at the ISS the next day. But mechanical problems with their spacecraft quickly set off another series of delays that resulted in them spending 286 days in space. As they arrived at the space station, the Starliner faced helium leaks and issues with the reaction control thrusters, Boeing said at the time. NASA and Boeing then announced on June 18, that the crew would need to remain in space for at least a week longer than expected. "We want to give our teams a little bit more time to look at the data, do some analysis, and make sure we're really ready to come home," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said during a media teleconference at the time. But that timeframe came and went — and months later, Wilmore and Williams were still in space. In August — 63 days into the mission — NASA announced that there was a chance that they would remain in space until 2025. By the end of the month, NASA announced that that they had decided that they had decided to bring the Starliner back to Earth without the crew, who would would remain at the ISS until February 2025. 'They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission,' a spokesperson for NASA said. The duo welcomed the SpaceX crew, which consisted of NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov, to the ISS on Sept. 30. While in space, the astronauts celebrated Thanksgiving — complete with a dehydrated food feast —and Christmas, voted in the 2024 presidential election and spoke with the media. During a press conference from space in early March, Williams even described her time at the ISS as 'fun.' 'Every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun,' she said, but added that "the hardest part is having the folks on the ground have to not know exactly when we're coming back.' About seven months after she arrived at the ISS, Williams took her first space walk in January 2025 — and that same month, President Donald Trump claimed that the astronauts had been "abandoned" by the Biden administration and that he had personally asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to bring them back. 'Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,' Musk wrote in a social media response posted on X, the social media platform he owns, echoing Trump's rhetoric. (Despite their remarks, NASA had, of course, already been collaborating with SpaceX for months on a plan to bring the astronauts home — and back in December, NASA set late March as a target for their return.) NASA had long pushed back on the idea that the astronauts were "stranded," and after Trump's remarks, the astronauts seconded that. "That's been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck," Wilmore told CNN's Anderson Cooper from the International Space Station on Feb. 13. "But that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about," he added. "We don't feel abandoned, we don't feel stuck, we don't feel stranded." Finally, the pair started their journey back to Earth alongside Hague and Gorbunov on March 18, undocking from the ISS "right on time" early in the morning, splashing down hours hours later that same day. In their first interview after their return, both Williams and Wilmore spoke about having to be flexible in real-time as the situation unfolded. "My first thought was, 'We just gotta pivot,' you know?" Williams told Fox News. "If this was the destiny, if our spacecraft was going to go home, based on decisions made here, we were going to be up there 'til February, I was like, 'Okay, let's make the best of it.' " "It's not about me," Wilmore added. "It's not about my feelings. It's about what this human space flight program is about. It's our national goals. And I have to wrap my mind around, what does our nation need out of me right now?" Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories In a separate interview with the BBC, they both said that although the idea of never coming home 'definitely went through our minds." But, Williams added, through it all, they 'knew nobody was going to just let us down" and that, "everybody had our back and was looking out for us.' Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Elon Musk makes spiteful move against Trump that could lead to NASA stranded astronauts 2.0
Elon Musk has just taken his new feud with President Trump to the next level, essentially promising to strand NASA 's astronauts on the International Space Station. The SpaceX CEO posted on X Thursday that he has decided to decommission his company's Dragon spacecraft 'immediately.' The move was in response to Trump posting on Truth Social that he would consider terminating all of the US government's contracts with Musk's commercial space company. Just two months ago, Musk's Dragon spacecraft came to the rescue of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on board the ISS for 286 days. The decommissioning of the Dragon capsule would leave NASA without a proven American spacecraft capable of sending and retrieving astronauts from the space station. There are currently four NASA astronauts on the ISS after the rescue of Williams and Wilmore. It is unknown if Musk would allow astronauts to return to Earth on board the Dragon capsule still attached to the station. This is a developing story. More updates to come.
USA Today
05-06-2025
- Science
- USA Today
Starliner launched 1 year ago on failed mission. What's next for NASA, Boeing?
Starliner launched 1 year ago on failed mission. What's next for NASA, Boeing? While the Starliner's first flight didn't exactly go to plan, both NASA and Boeing still hope the spacecraft can one day fly again. Show Caption Hide Caption Starliner astronauts reflect on extended mission in space Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore discussed their extended stay aboard the International Space Station. On June 5, 2024, the Starliner got off the ground from Florida with two experienced NASA astronauts aboard for what was to be a brief trip to the International Space Station. But issues with the spacecraft prompted NASA to undock it without its crew. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams ultimately spent more than nine months and 280 days in orbit as part of NASA's contingency plan to get them back home. The first human spaceflight for Boeing's Starliner made headlines for all the wrong reasons. But one year after its launch, it appears neither Boeing nor NASA have given up the spacecraft. On June 5, 2024, the Starliner got off the ground from Florida with two experienced NASA astronauts aboard for what was to be a brief trip to the International Space Station. Days then stretched into months after mission engineers noticed that the vehicle had encountered a slew of mechanical issues during its orbital voyage. As a result, the Starliner's crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, spent more than nine months and 280 days in orbit as part of NASA's contingency plan to get them back home. While the flight test went far from according to plan, both NASA and Boeing have given signs that there's still hope for the Starliner to fly again – following a lot more development, no doubt. Here's what to know about the Starliner mission and what's next for Boeing and NASA. Boeing Starliner: On anniversary of Starliner's doomed launch, look back at the mission's biggest moments What is the Boeing Starliner? Why NASA wants to certify vehicle Boeing is developing the Starliner spacecraft with the goal of it becoming a second operational vehicle for NASA to transport crews and cargo to the space station. The missions would be contracted under the U.S. space agency's commercial crew program, under which NASA pays private companies to conduct orbital spaceflights using their own commercial vehicles. SpaceX has already been making routine trips since 2020 to the space station under the program using its Dragon capsule. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a contingent of four. The Crew missions launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket – one of the most active in the world – from NASA's Kennedy Space Center inFlorida. What happened to the Boeing Starliner, 'stuck' astronauts? As the two astronauts selected for the Starliner's maiden crewed flight test, Wilmore and Williams launched June 5, 2024 on a mission to test a vehicle intended to one day join the SpaceX Dragon in transporting NASA astronauts to orbit. The astronauts reached the International Space Station a day after launching, where they were expected to remain for about 10 days before returning home. But the mission ended in failure when a slew of technical issues with the spacecraft prompted NASA to determine that the Starliner was not able to safely transport its crew back to Earth. Instead, Wilmore and Williams had no choice but to watch the spacecraft that brought them to the station undock Sept. 6 without them to make an autonomous landing in New Mexico. Under a plan NASA announced in August 2024, a SpaceX Dragon that was already due to reach the space station on a mission of its own was selected as the vehicle to ferry Wilmore and Williams home. That mission launched as planned in late-September, but with one crucial change: Just two astronauts were on board the Dragon instead of four to leave two extra seats for Wilmore and Williams. That meant the astronauts who crewed the Starliner were due to remain at the station for a few extra months as Crew-9 spacefarers, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, completed their six-month mission. Then, once the Crew-10 replacement mission arrived March 15, the stage was set for the original Starliner crew members to finally return to Earth. The SpaceX Dragon vehicle carrying Wilmore, Williams, Hague and Gorbunov made a parachute-assisted water landing March 19 off the coast of Florida. What's next for Boeing, NASA in Starliner development? As of late March, NASA was moving ahead with plans to work with Boeing toward making Starliner operational. The aerospace company had plans to conduct more tests this summer at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico while making modifications to the vehicle to prepare it for routine spaceflight, NASA officials have said. That includes fixing the thruster issues from the first crewed spaceflight and conducting more propulsion system testing. Teams have also been testing new methods for sealing the helium system to mitigate the risk of future leaks, NASA said in a March 27 blog post – its last public update about the Starliner spacecraft. The USA TODAY Network has reached out to NASA for more information on the status of Starliner. An independent watchdog report further determined in its 2024 report that other problems with Starliner also require modification before it can be certified. That includes a battery redesign plan and work to strengthen the landing airbag backing panel. "NASA is seeing the commitment from Boeing to adding the Starliner system to the nation's crew transportation base," Ken Bowersox, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said in a March statement. But when Starliner could next fly – with or without a crew – remains to be determined. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
BBC News
04-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
BBC Learning English - Learning English from the News / Astronauts home after 9 months in space
(Photo via Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images) ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ The story After nine months in space, Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally arrived back on Earth. Their stay on the International Space Station (ISS) was only supposed to last eight days, but their mission was dramatically extended after the spacecraft that they arrived on, called 'Starliner', began to have technical problems. Starliner was sent back to Earth empty in September 2024, so Butch and Suni needed an alternative spacecraft to take them home. Nine months after they arrived, they're finally back. News headlines Nasa's stranded astronauts finally begin return to Earth after being stuck in space for months The Independent Two astronauts stuck in space for more than nine months head back to Earth Sky News NASA's stranded astronauts are FINALLY on way home after nine grueling months Daily Mail Key words and phrases stuck unable to move The lock on the bathroom door broke, so I was stuck in there for hours! head back return My parents are just heading back from the restaurant now – they'll be home soon. grueling/gruelling extremely tiring or difficult I've got a gruelling schedule at work tomorrow – back-to-back meetings all day with no breaks. Next If you like learning English from the news, click here. Learn more phrasal verbs with Georgie.
