Trump’s Political Stunt to ‘Rescue’ ISS Astronauts Is Shifting Ahead

The Starliner saga has been ongoing for practically 5 months, however newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has determined to attempt to swoop in for a last-minute rescue operation. NASA will reportedly swap one SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for one more to return the 2 Starliner astronauts slightly sooner than anticipated, complying with Trump’s boisterous try to avoid wasting the crew that doesn’t want saving.

NASA is reportedly engaged on bringing again two astronauts from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) on March 19, round two weeks sooner than the company’s present plan, an nameless supply told Ars Technica. This comes shortly after President Trump introduced that he had requested SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk to “go get the two courageous astronauts who’ve been nearly deserted in house by the Biden Administration,” he wrote on Fact Social. The trouble to hurry the return of the Starliner crew is not going to solely require the reshuffling of spacecraft on the bottom—it’s additionally sure to delay a non-public mission to the ISS.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched to the ISS on board Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on June 5, 2024. The mission was initially slotted for eight days in house however issues with the spacecraft’s thrusters pressured NASA to return an empty Starliner back from the ISS, deeming it unsafe to move the crew to Earth. As an alternative, Williams and Wilmore would return on board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

NASA launched its Crew-9 mission in September 2024 with two astronauts as a substitute of 4. The 2 empty seats had been reserved for Williams and Wilmore, who had been set to return alongside the Crew-9 crew in February, however there have been extra troubles forward. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 was initially set for liftoff in February, however technical points with the car delayed its launch and the next crew handover. Which means Crew-9, alongside Williams and Wilmore, received’t be capable to depart the ISS till Crew-10 is on the house station, additional delaying the Starliner astronauts’ return to early April.

NASA now believes the Dragon capsule received’t be able to launch to the ISS till late April, so the company has determined to swap spacecraft, in line with Ars Technica. NASA has reportedly requested SpaceX to launch the Crew-10 mission on board its Dragon C210 car no sooner than March 12. This explicit SpaceX car, known as Endurance, returned to Earth in March 2024 after finishing the Crew-7 mission and is because of launch Axiom Space’s fourth private mission to the ISS within the spring. If this new plan goes into impact, the Starliner astronauts could return residence on March 19 after having spent 286 days in house.

Astronauts usually spend round six months on board the ISS, with some staying in space for a little over a year. Though the period of their keep in house just isn’t distinctive, the story of the Starliner astronauts has drawn worldwide media consideration and even taken a political flip since Trump’s inauguration. Whereas the crew did have an ill-fated experience to house, the astronauts haven’t been deserted nor are they in want of an expedited rescue mission.