NASA has made changes to its astronaut mission schedules, bringing forward the return of the current crew to Earth in mid-March and postponing a private mission to the space station. These adjustments stem from various unforeseen challenges encountered during recent crewed spaceflights.
NASA has revised its plans for astronaut missions to the International Space Station, bringing forward the return of the current crew and pushing back the launch of the next. The agency announced that the existing crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan, along with their Russian counterpart Oleg Skripochka, will now return to Earth in mid-March instead of late March or April.
This change will shorten their extended time aboard the station, which recently marked its eight-month duration. NASA attributes these schedule adjustments to a series of unforeseen challenges encountered during the recent crewed spaceflights.Initially, a Boeing Starliner capsule was slated to ferry the crew to the ISS for a week-long demonstration mission. However, the capsule encountered significant difficulties during its journey, prompting NASA to abort the mission and retrieve the spacecraft empty. Consequently, the astronauts, who were originally slated to return on the Starliner, were reassigned to SpaceX. SpaceX subsequently faced delays with the launch of their replacement crew aboard a brand-new capsule, necessitating additional preparation time. This further extended the duration of Meir, Morgan, and Skripochka's mission. In response to these ongoing challenges, NASA has decided to send its next crew aboard an older capsule, targeting a launch date of March 12. This capsule was originally designated for a private crew arranged by Axiom Space, comprising astronauts from Poland, Hungary, and India. The private mission has been postponed and is now expected to launch later this spring. NASA prefers to have a new crew arrive before its predecessor returns to Earth to ensure continuous habitation of the space station. The upcoming crew comprises two NASA astronauts, along with representatives from Japan and Russia.This recent scheduling shift follows a statement from NASA two weeks ago, assuring the public that they were working diligently to expedite the return of Meir, Morgan, and Skripochka as soon as possible. This effort was further reinforced by President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who both pledged to accelerate the astronauts' return just a day prior
NASA Astronauts International Space Station Spacex Boeing Starliner Private Mission Launch Delays
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