How NASA plans to rescue two astronauts stuck in space
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore were supposed to be on the International Space Station for eight days. But as the Boeing Starliner capsule they were in was approaching the space station, the spacecraft’s thrusters started to fail. Since then, Boeing and NASA have struggled to figure out what went wrong. NASA decided last week that the astronauts should stay put for eight months until they could come back in a SpaceX capsule.
Host Martine Powers speaks with space industry reporter Chris Davenport about the plan to bring the astronauts home and what the repercussions of this mission will be on Boeing and future space travel.
Today’s show was produced by Ted Muldoon, with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores. Ted also mixed the show. Thanks to Chris Rowland.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | status check. |
| 0:05.0 | Go Atlas. Go Atlas. |
| 0:07.0 | Go Centaur. |
| 0:08.0 | Go Starliner. |
| 0:10.0 | God Speed Butch and sunny. |
| 0:17.2 | Almost three months ago, two NASA astronauts boarded a commercial spacecraft known as the Starliner. |
| 0:21.2 | It was built by Boeing, and this was its first crew test flight. |
| 0:25.0 | I'll put some fire in this rocket. |
| 0:28.0 | Now I'll just push it to the heavens where all these tough Americans have prepared it to be. |
| 0:36.1 | Let's go Glitzer, take us to space and back. |
| 0:40.5 | The voices you just heard, those are the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams. |
| 0:46.0 | Three, two, one, ignition, and lift off of Starliner at Atlas 5, carrying two American heroes drawing a line to the stars for all of us. The launch went smoothly, but as the Starliner approached the International Space Station, |
| 1:10.0 | thrusters failed at a critical moment. The astronauts were able to dock and they boarded the |
| 1:15.7 | space station fine. But soon after, people learned that these astronauts were going to be in space |
| 1:21.6 | much longer than anticipated. |
| 1:24.0 | Until this weekend, we didn't even have an estimate about when they would be returning. |
| 1:28.9 | And whenever I've thought about this story, I've been struggling to understand their exact situation. So Chris, are they stuck? Are they stranded? Are they just delayed for a really, really long time. |
| 1:43.7 | I think at this point, it's fair to say they are stuck. |
| 1:47.8 | That is Chris Davenport. |
| 1:50.3 | He covers the space industry for the post. NASA would argue vigorously that they're not stranded because they could come home tomorrow or today in an emergency, but they've had their tour extended a long, long time. |
| 2:03.0 | A mission that was originally supposed to be eight days |
| 2:07.0 | will now last eight months. |
... |
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