Cabo Cañaveral, Florida, United States – Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams They were barely known outside the space circles when the belts were hooked for what was supposed to be a rapid test flight of the Boeing Starliner capsule last June. Nine months later, they have captured the attention – and the hearts – of the world as the asparables stranded of the POT.
His return home is imminent now that a new crew has arrived at the International Space Station to replace them after launching from Florida last week. They return with Spacex, since their Starliner, plagued with problems, had returned to the Earth empty months ago, leaving them behind in orbit. Its Spacex capsule was decoupled from the early station on Tuesday for the 17 -hour trip back home.
Here is a look at “Suni and Butch” and his mission full of drama:
Who are stranded astronauts?
The two test pilots arrived at NASA through the Navy. Wilmore, 62, played American football at high school and at the University in his native state in Tennessee before joining the Navy. Williams, 59, grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, being a competitive swimmer and bottom broker.
Wilmore accumulated 663 landing landings, while Williams served in combat helicopter squads.
NASA chose Williams as Astronaut in 1998, followed by Wilmore in 2000. Each had made two space flights, including rooms at the space station before registering as the first crew of the Starliner.
Although they accepted the repeated delays in their return home, they pointed out that it was much more difficult for their families. Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, has kept the home, according to her husband. His eldest daughter is in college and the youngest in her last year of high school.
Williams’s husband, Mike, a retired federal marshal, has been taking care of his two farmers. She said her mother is the most worried.
What awaits astronauts stranded on Earth?
In addition to meeting with their loved ones, Wilmore, a leader of his Baptist Church, cannot wait to minister face to face and smell the freshly cut grass.
Wilmore remained in contact with the members of his congregation during the months, participating in occasional prayer services and calling sick members through the internet telephone of the space station.
Williams waits with long walks with his dogs and swim in the sea.
Several other astronauts have even spent more time in space, so special precautions should be needed for these two once they return, according to NASA.
“Every astronaut who goes to space, shows them that they do not think about when they will return home.
Why were astronauts mixed in a political conflict?
Wilmore and Williams found themselves in the middle of a political storm when President Donald Trump and the founder of Spacex, Elon Musk, announced at the end of January that they would accelerate the return of the astronauts and blame the administration drove to keep them there too long.
NASA officials defended their decision to wait for the next programmed Spacex flight to bring them home, with a return planned for February. But their replacements were delayed on Earth due to battery works in its new Spacex capsule.
Spacex changed capsule to accelerate things, advancing its return for a couple of weeks. The two left the space station in the capsule that has been there since the past fall; Williams launched kisses to the seven residents of the station that were left behind.
“It’s great to see how much people care about our astronauts,” Bowersox said, describing the couple as “professionals, dedicated, really exceptional.”
Why changed the astronauts stranded of space taxi?
Astronauts almost always return in the same spacecraft in which they launched. Wilmore and Williams left aboard the Boeing Starliner and transferred to the Spacex dragon for the return trip.
His first flights were aboard NASA’s space ferry, followed by the Soyuz capsule of Russia. Both the Starliner and the Dragon are completely autonomous, but capable of being manually controlled if necessary.
As test pilots, they were in charge of the Starliner. The Dragon had Nick Hague astronaut in command; He took off last September with a Russian and two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams.
What is the future of the Boeing Starliner?
The Starliner almost did not reach the space station. Shortly after the launch of June 5, Helio leaked and the propellants failed on the road to the laboratory in orbit.
NASA and Boeing spent summer trying to find out what went wrong and if the problems would be repeated on the return flight, endangering their two test pilots. NASA finally decided that it was too risky and ordered the capsule to return empty in September.
The engineers are still investigating the failures of the propellants, and it is not clear when the Starliner will fly again – with astronauts or just load. NASA entered its commercial crew program wanting two competing American companies for the taxi service for reasons of redundancy and remains firm in that choice.