This was supposed to be a quick space adventure. A little over a week’s journey at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. A space adventure, with everything about this amazing world, should be completely routine. But things don’t always go as planned, and this story ended up twisting and turning into a thriller worthy of Hollywood.
American astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams left Earth on June 5 on Boeing’s first space mission, embarking on a short, eight-day mission to the International Space Station. The sudden failure of their Starliner spacecraft left them stranded in space. Now, more than a month later, the astronauts have been forced to extend their stay, even to death.
accumulated problems
Butch and Sonny’s flight is the first aboard the Starliner spacecraft, developed by Boeing. The project has accumulated almost a decade of delays due, for example, to numerous problems with the aircraft’s propulsion systems and software. In the first test flights, which took place between 2019 and 2022, several malfunctions were already discovered related to the tools that allow the ship to move. But after months of reviews and many substantial changes, everything indicated that most of the technical problems had been solved and, therefore, the ship became viable and safe to be able to send astronauts into space; specifically, to the symbolic International Space Station.
These two veteran astronauts were selected to attend the long-awaited Starliner premiere. Both are experienced pilots in the US Armed Forces, and in addition, they can boast at least two flights each to the large space platform located hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
In recent years, several space missions have taken off boasting media and well-known faces such as, for example, businessman Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin’s first spaceflight. However, in this case, the choice of a more experienced astronaut profile shows that Boeing wanted to play it safe. They wanted, of course, a flawless first mission that would pave the way for dozens of other flights. But fate offered them something quite different.
Wilmore and Williams launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida on June 5. After a day in space, they arrived at the International Space Station the next day. For a week, the astronauts focused their stay on conducting all sorts of scientific experiments. On the one hand, studying how certain phenomena behave in microgravity. On the other hand, using the moment to do Earth-observation work. Everything went according to plan until around the 12th of the same month, just as they were scheduled to begin their return to Earth, a routine check of the spacecraft revealed some worrying anomalies. That’s when the adventure of the two astronauts got complicated.
As Boeing and NASA technicians explained in a joint press conference, the Starliner ship is experiencing several failures in its propulsion systems and is also leaking at several points. Mission officials confirm that some repairs have already been made, and that in the meantime all possible tests are being conducted to understand what happened and choose the most effective and safe solution as soon as possible, with the idea of trying to return at the end of July.
The good news is that despite everything, the astronauts say they are not worried, because they have supplies and can continue working. “We love floating,” they say.
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