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When astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth for the International Space Station two months ago, they searched their bags for a key piece of equipment. Conducting the inaugural crewed flight test on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft, they departed without their own toiletries and other personal comforts – expecting to return to Earth within a week or so.
They have now been on the space station for more than 60 days, however, and NASA raised the possibility this week that they could stay there as early as 2025 due to ongoing problems with their Starliner capsule.
Such an extension is uncertain, and NASA officials hope to resolve some disagreements within the space agency about Starliner safety. A decision, according to NASA, must be made by mid-August.
But NASA has indicated that it may need to continue for a month if Starliner is deemed unsafe and they have to fall back on Plan B, with the astronauts coming home aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule instead .
So what exactly would Williams and Wilmore do for another six months in space?
Currently both are guests. They are not part of Expedition 71, the international crew of seven astronauts serving as the official crew of the space station. However, NASA has said that they have seamlessly integrated with the group, taking on daily tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory.
But if their stay is extended into February, as NASA said could happen if Starliner can’t bring them home, Williams and Wilmore have moved on to become full-time members of the expedition crew.
They would be engaged in normal crew tasks, such as conducting spacewalks outside the space station, maintaining the orbital laboratory and carrying out a tight schedule of science experiments.
And NASA confirmed that the Starliner astronauts are willing to make such a change.
“A few years ago, we made the decision – knowing that this was a test flight – to ensure that we had the appropriate resources, supplies and training for the crew, in case they had to be on ISS, on for any reason, for a longer period of time,” said Dana Weigel, NASA manager of the International Space Station Program, during a briefing on Wednesday.
“Butch and Suni are fully trained,” Weigel added. “They are capable and current with EVA (spacewalks), with robotics, with all the things we need them to do.”
Joining Crew-9
Nothing is certain, but NASA revealed on Wednesday for the first time that it was considering flying the Boeing Starliner spacecraft home empty.
But that would not leave Williams and Wilmore in the space indefinitely. They would be given a ride home on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Crew-9 – a routine trip to the space station to replenish an expedition team – is currently flying with four astronauts: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Under NASA’s contingency plan for Starliner, two astronauts would be removed from that mission, although officials did not reveal which of the four crew members it might be.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft would then fly with two empty seats to the International Space Station – departing no earlier than September 24, based on the latest dates shared by NASA.
Ballast, or metal humps that act as dead weight, would fly alongside the two empty seats on Crew-9 to maintain the Crew Dragon’s center of gravity.
The two Crew-9 astronauts would then join Williams and Wilmore aboard the space station, and the foursome would complete Expedition 72, which will include additional Russian cosmonauts and is set to begin in September after a period transfers.
As is typical for missions to the space station that embark on a journey, the Crew-9 astronauts will remain on board for about five to six months – leaving Williams and Wilmore in space for another half year in addition to the two months already have them. thrown in space.
When they become part of Crew-9, they will fall into a structured routine, and map out their days hour by hour.
Olympic Games in orbit
Already, the astronauts have fallen into some of that daily work. Recent updates from NASA stated that Williams and Wilmore have so far used their time for space station maintenance, inspecting hardware, organizing cargo, performing checks on Starliner, and assisting with science experiments and technology demonstrations.
Williams and Wilmore, however, also had opportunities for some fun in microgravity. NASA shared footage of the astronauts on July 26 passing around a plastic torch on the space station and mimicking Olympic events, including discus and pommel horse. (A key task for astronauts is to work out so they don’t lose too much muscle and bone density while in space.)
Williams, for the record, has already proven chops as a standout space athlete.
In 2012, during an earlier trip to the International Space Station, she became the first person to complete a triathlon in space. Williams used a stationary bicycle, simulated swimming with a weight-lifting machine and ran on a treadmill with her attached to a harness so she wouldn’t float away.
That feat came after she ran alongside the Boston Marathon from the space station in 2007.
Williams and Wilmore logged a total of 500 days in space before launching on the Starliner test flight. Williams even said she cried after leaving the space station after her last mission in 2012, unsure if she would ever return.
“This flight is a dream come true for her,” said one NASA commentator during a June 5 live stream of the Starliner launch.
Extended periods in space
It is not uncommon for astronauts to have unexpected stays aboard the space station — for days, weeks or even months.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, was slated to spend about six months aboard the International Space Station for his inaugural trip to low-Earth orbit beginning in September 2022. He instead logged 371 days in space after after discovering a refrigerant leak. coming from its original vehicle – a Russian Soyuz capsule – and attached to the orbital pole.
As a result of Rubio’s one-year stay, the US record for the most continuous days spent in orbit was set.
Astronauts also regularly extend their stays on the station by days at a time for a variety of factors, including bad weather on Earth or other schedule adjustments.
That’s a suitcase
Flying to the space station without the suitcases they had packed for their mission could complicate the comfort of the Starliner astronauts’ long stay. NASA chose to remove their luggage from the spacecraft to make room for a much-needed pump to repair a malfunctioning toilet on board the space station.
The two astronauts may have finally gotten some relief after Northrop Grumman’s cargo replacement mission arrived at the space station on Tuesday.
“We like to keep our options open so we have some items like clothing … some personal food items for (Williams and Wilmore), things like that,” said Bill Spetch, NASA operations integration manager for the Station Program International Space, during a briefing last week.
And there’s no sign that food supplies are dwindling anytime soon. Packed for 8,200 pounds of science experiments and cargo on the Northrop Grumman ship was a food shipment that included meals and produce such as squash, radishes, carrots, blueberries, oranges, apples and coffee, according to Spetch.
However, NASA must make a quick decision about Williams and Wilmore’s return – or integration into the regular crew rotation – because the space station’s store of food and other resources is not limitless.
“Even though they’re up there, we’ve got extra staff, we’ve got extra hands, and they can do a lot more work. But they’re also using more consumables and more supplies,” Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate, said Wednesday.
“At some point,” he said, “we have to get those people home and go back to a normal crew size on the ISS.”
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