NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are scheduled to speak with the public on Friday, September 13 while being stuck on the International Space Station (ISS), waiting to return to Earth. The call is slated as part of an Earth-to-space news conference, which is highly anticipated since both astronauts extended their stay in orbit due to the technical issues associated with their return. They are on the mission from June 5, 2024, as part of its inaugural crewed flight.
Earth-to-Space Call
NASA also has invited media and the public to join the Earth-to-space call, which will air live beginning at 2:15 p.m. EDT, on NASA+ and also will be available on the NASA app and the agency's website. It will be the first public address from Williams and Wilmore since the Starliner's uncrewed return launched a revised timeline for their original mission.
During the news conference, the astronauts will update media about their work on Expedition 71, their extended stay aboard the ISS and their future plans now that they have been awaiting a revised return date. The astronauts also will discuss some of the hundreds of research investigations they've been conducting aboard the space station, contributing to both Expedition 71 and 72.
The Starliner Mission
Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on 5 June 2024, the first-ever crewed flight of that spacecraft. The mission was supposed to be a short spell aboard the ISS, returning not long after launching. However, technical concerns meant NASA decided to bring the Starliner back to Earth sans its occupants, lengthening the time in space for the astronauts.
They were supposed to return in March, but now their return date has shifted to February 2025, turning this into an unplanned long-duration mission. This prolonging of the timeline has given them more time to make many more desperately needed contributions to a range of scientific work that predominantly concentrates on the experiments of low Earth orbit integral to the work of the ISS.
Expedition 71 and 72
Of course, the findings from these projects will help further the broader goals of NASA's continued space studies. Inside the space station, both Williams and Wilmore are working with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner on a host of ongoing experiments. Both astronauts will remain in space on the ISS for roughly another six months before returning home and helping add to the record for continuous scientific achievement of the station.
Launch Plans and Return
It is expected to blast off at 12.23 pm EDT (9.53 pm IST) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew will return to Earth in spring of 2025.
NASA officials explained that this extra time provides incomparable opportunities to collect data and conduct experiments in a way that helps build on our long-term objectives in furtherance of the goals of long-duration spaceflight missions, including potential manned missions to the Moon and further to Mars.
Astronaut Don Pettit Joins Sunita Williams on the ISS
At 69 years young, NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, blasted off to space once more, this is the fourth time he will travel to space. Having gathered over 370 days in space throughout his career till now, Pettit's rich experience will no doubt turn out to be a great asset to the crew aboard the ISS. He is also known for improvising with equipment when needed and manages to create his own tools during missions, furthering his reputation as one of the most resourceful astronauts at NASA.
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