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Astronauts Are Stuck Marooned in Space, NASA Should Ditch the Spin
[TheAtlqntic] Before Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams took off for the International Space Station in early June, NASA removed some of their suitcases from their Boeing-made spacecraft. The ISS was in urgent need of a new pump for the system that recycles urine into water, so the personal items had to go. There’s no laundry on the ISS, but no matter. For their inaugural mission on Boeing’s Starliner, Butch and Suni, as the astronauts are known, were planning to stay on the space station for only about a week.

But one week turned into another, and then another, and then seven. Before Starliner launched, NASA had set a 45-day deadline for keeping the spacecraft in orbit for the sake of the capsule’s batteries, which hadn’t been tested in space yet. Today is day 48. According to NASA officials, the batteries are still performing well, and Starliner could remain docked to the space station as late as mid-August while the agency and its aerospace contractor troubleshoot issues with the spacecraft...

Posted by: Whavick Scourge of the Apes9857 2024-07-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=704597