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Saying that two astronauts are stranded in space isn’t quite accurate. They’re technically stranded in orbit. That makes a huge difference because elbow room is one thing Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams don’t have much of. They went on an eight day mission. Thanks to Boeing, they’ve been stuck in a tin can for 49 days, so far. NASA just informed them the earliest they can expect to come home is “sometime in August.”
Space is big
Space is big, they say. Really big. It doesn’t have any air, though. Humans who go up into orbit and beyond need to bring their own along with them. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took a ride on the the Boeing Starliner.
It was the “maiden crewed voyage for the spacecraft.” That launch could have been it’s last.
NASA has a bunch of tanks welded together like Tinkertoys they call the International Space Station. It’s like a hotel for any freeloader who can dock to the hatch.
Someone in Hollywood needs to revive the show Gilligan's Island with a modern twist. It was supposed to be a three-hour tour! A three! Hour! Tour! #Boeing #Starliner #space #NASA pic.twitter.com/kcZAsYSg9u
— Ikiru (@the_ikiru) July 25, 2024
Wilmore and Williams checked in and can’t leave. They aren’t sure if they’re stuck on Gilligan’s Island or in Hotel California.
On Thursday, July 25, they were told they “will have to spend at least a few more weeks aboard the International Space Station.” They need the professor from Gilligan’s Island up there with them. Give him a couple of coconuts and some parts from the radio and he’d have Starliner ready for blast off.
After launch, the Starliner crew “found a series of concerning helium leaks and have been testing whether the ship can be used to return them to Earth.” It looks like the patches will hold.
Sometime in August
Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, gave them a call to break the news “they’re expected to stay in orbit until sometime in August.”
They still need to run “a final set of tests for Starliner’s thrusters scheduled for this weekend.” If the thrusters are ready for space and the helium doesn’t leak away, “then NASA would schedule an agency review.”
That won’t happen before next week and NASA can’t set an official date for their return until then. Boeing is pretty sure the craft can handle the job. “The prime intent is still to return Butch and Suni aboard Starliner,” Stich added.
NASA ‘not quite ready’ to bring Boeing Starliner astronauts home #NASA #Boeing #BoeingStarliner $BA https://t.co/m7kZsjpGEV via @MarketWatch
— James Rogers (@jamesjrogers) July 25, 2024
If their ride flunks the thruster tests, they don’t need to grab a towel and stick out their thumbs. The space station gets lots of visitors. Most of them come up on one of Elon Musk’s Crew Dragon spaceships.
Wilmore and Williams are very carefully not saying that they would rather catch a ride back to Earth on one of the Dragons. Secretly, they’re thinking it.
Not only can they carry up to four, they have room for a couple hitchhikers at any time. Since Elon Musk is actually a space alien, he wants to make sure he’s ready if any of his buddies show up, unannounced.
