Skip to main content

Why NASA Picked Elon Musk's SpaceX To Bring Back Astronauts From Space

NASA today picked Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring back Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore from space next year. Eighty days ago, the two astronauts arrived at the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner for an 8-day mission. They were forced to extend their stay because of major technical issues with the Boeing capsule.

The astronauts are expected to return in February next year, after spending a total of eight months in orbit, on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft due to launch next month as part of a routine astronaut rotation mission.

NASA chief Bill Nelson said Starliner's propulsion system is too risky to carry its first crew home. Starliner will undock from the ISS without a crew and attempt to return to Earth as it would have with astronauts aboard.

The space agency's decision to pick Boeing's top space rival marked a fresh setback to the Starliner test mission. Boeing had hoped the mission would redeem the troubled program after years of development problems and over $1.6 billion in budget overruns since 2016.

Nelson said he discussed the agency's decision with Boeing's new CEO Kelly Ortberg.

The SpaceX Crew-9 mission will take off in late September, but carrying only two passengers instead of the originally planned four.

It will remain moored to the ISS until its scheduled return in February, bringing back its own crew members plus their two stranded colleagues.

The veteran NASA astronauts, both former military test pilots, became the first crew to ride Starliner on June 5 when they were launched to the ISS.

Starliner's propulsion system suffered multiple glitches beginning in the first 24 hours of its flight to the ISS, triggering months of cascading delays. Five of its 28 thrusters failed and it sprang several leaks of helium, which is used to pressurise the thrusters.

Since Starliner docked to the ISS in June, Boeing has scrambled to investigate what caused its thruster mishaps and helium leaks. The company arranged tests and simulations on Earth to gather data that it has used to try and convince NASA officials that Starliner is safe to fly the crew back home.

But results from that testing raised more difficult engineering questions and ultimately failed to quell NASA officials' concerns about Starliner's ability to make its crewed return trip - the most daunting and complex part of the test mission.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/HIq2Tmx
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Delhi to Get More EV Charging, Battery Swapping Stations as Cab Aggregators Increase E-Bikes

The NDMC is planning to increase the number of EV charging stations in Lutyens' Delhi and even provide battery swapping facilities at some of these points, a senior official said on Wednesday. With Delhi being among the most polluted capitals in the world, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been making a push for electric vehicles to nudge residents to opt for cleaner vehicle options. There are around 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the national capital at present and this would be the first time that some of them would have battery swapping facilities, which is quite prominent in Western countries, he said. The official said the aim is to provide easy accessibility to charging stations and to save time by providing swapping facilities. This will give a major push to EVs in the city. Various PSUs, including the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON), have approac...
Post a Comment
Read more

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delhi Air On Brink Of Turning "Severe", Most Polluted In India

Delhi's air quality was on the brink of the 'severe' category on Sunday with an overall AQI reading of 382 - the worst recorded in the country for the day. Fifteen monitoring stations of the city recorded air quality levels in the 'severe' zone, having AQI readings over 400, data showed. The city also recorded its lowest nighttime temperature so far, as thick smog and haze shrouded it in a dense cover during the morning and evening hours. The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday was 16.5 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above normal, according to the weather department. The national capital's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 382, worsening from 316 the previous day. The locations where air pollution levels reached the 'severe' zone are Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, NSIT Dwarka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar, Okhla Phase 2, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, Rohini, Wazirpur and Vivek Vihar...
Post a Comment
Read more