Context: American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth onboard SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after the longest ever unscheduled stay in the International Space Station (ISS). They splashed down off the coast of Florida, US after a journey of 17 hours from the ISS.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Boeing's CST-100 Starliner; SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft; International Space Station; Impacts of Space travel.
Major Highlights
- In June 2024, the NASA astronauts embarked on a mission to ISS, aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, initially planned for an eight-day duration.
- The astronauts aimed to validate the capability of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner in taking crewed missions to the ISS. However, Starliner spacecraft faced technical issues, and their stay was extended to approximately nine months (286 days).
Causes of the delay
- Technical Malfunctions: During the mission, Boeing Starliner spacecraft experienced several technical problems, including thruster malfunctions and Helium leaks in the thrusters.
- Alternative return vehicle: Given the unresolved technical issues with Starliner, NASA decided that the astronauts would return to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, scheduled for February 2025.
- Crew Dragon is the only U.S. spacecraft capable of flying people in orbit (conducting crewed orbital flights).
- Boeing Starliner (also known as CST-100) is a spacecraft manufactured by Boeing under a contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Development program. It hoped to compete with the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Astronauts with most days in Space:
- Russia's Oleg Kononenko has made five trips to space spending a total of 1111 days, on his last journey he returned to earth after 374 days.
- Soviet Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov holds the record- 438 days at the Mir space station between January 1994 and March 1995.
Also Read: How does Space Travel affect the Health of an Astronaut?
The impacts of being in space, especially for long periods of time, on the body are still being studied. Past studies showed that bone density and muscle quality deteriorated faster in space than on earth. Low gravity impacts brain fluids and may alter brain structure and increase risk of heart disease.