If Elon Musk can’t rescue them, Russia can. Maybe we should be nicer to Russia.
By Tyler Durden: Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been living on the
International Space Station (ISS) for over a month after their Boeing
Starliner spacecraft encountered a series of technical issues, including
helium leaks and a thruster malfunction.
Wilmore and Williams
blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force on June 5 and
docked with the ISS one day later. Both astronauts were expected to
spend just a week aboard the ISS and return to Earth by June 14.
However,
five separate helium leaks in the Starliner's thruster system and five
failures of its reaction control system thrusters, critical systems for
safely orienting the spacecraft into Earth's atmosphere, were detected.
These unresolved problems have stranded both astronauts on the ISS ever
since.
On Wednesday, Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, told
reporters via a remote video link, "I feel confident that if we had to —
if there was a problem with the International Space Station — we'd get
in our spacecraft and we can undock, talk to our team and figure out the
best way to come home."