Trump’s Political Stunt to ‘Rescue’ ISS Astronauts Is Moving Forward – Gizmodo

The Starliner saga has been ongoing for nearly five months, but newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has decided to try to swoop in for a last-minute rescue operation. NASA will reportedly swap one SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for another to return the two Starliner astronauts a little earlier than expected, complying with Trump’s boisterous attempt to save the crew that doesn’t need saving.NASA is reportedly working on bringing back two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) on March 19, around two weeks earlier than the agency’s current plan, an anonymous source told Ars Technica. This comes shortly after President Trump announced that he had asked SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk to “go get the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,” he wrote on Truth Social. The effort to rush the return of the Starliner crew will not only require the reshuffling of spacecraft on the ground—it’s also certain to delay a private mission to the ISS.Trump’s Plan to Rescue ‘Stranded’ Starliner Astronauts Makes Zero SenseNASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched to the ISS on board Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on June 5, 2024. The mission was originally slotted for eight days in space but issues with the spacecraft’s thrusters forced NASA to return an empty Starliner back from the ISS, deeming it unsafe to transport the crew to Earth. Instead, Williams and Wilmore would return on board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.NASA launched its Crew-9 mission in September 2024 with two astronauts instead of four. The two empty seats were reserved for Williams and Wilmore, who were set to return alongside the Crew-9 crew in February, but there were more troubles ahead. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 was originally set for liftoff in February, but technical issues with the vehicle delayed its launch and the subsequent crew handover. That means Crew-9, alongside Williams and Wilmore, won’t be able to depart the ISS until Crew-10 is on the space station, further delaying the Starliner astronauts’ return to early April.NASA now believes the Dragon capsule won’t be ready to launch to the ISS until late April, so the agency has decided to swap spacecraft, according to Ars Technica. NASA has reportedly asked SpaceX to launch the Crew-10 mission on board its Dragon C210 vehicle no earlier than March 12. This particular SpaceX vehicle, called Endurance, returned to Earth in March 2024 after completing the Crew-7 mission and is due to launch Axiom Space’s fourth private mission to the ISS in the spring. If this new plan goes into effect, the Starliner astronauts may return home on March 19 after having spent 286 days in space.Astronauts normally spend around six months on board the ISS, with some staying in space for a little over a year. Although the duration of their stay in space is not exceptional, the story of the Starliner astronauts has drawn worldwide media attention and even taken a political turn since Trump’s inauguration. While the crew did have an ill-fated ride to space, the astronauts have not been abandoned nor are they in need of an expedited rescue mission.
BoeingBoeing StarlinerDonald TrumpNASASPACEXStarliner
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Source: https://gizmodo.com/trumps-political-stunt-to-rescue-iss-astronauts-is-moving-forward-2000560504