by Roberto Echeverri
On June 5, 2024, two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, embarked on a 8-day journey to space to reach the International Space Station (ISS) and unfortunately, got stuck in space.
When the astronauts were getting close to docking, multiple thrusters failed in the Starliner, and the astronauts had to make an emergency docking at the ISS. This led to delays in their arrival and transformed their 8-day flight into an estimated 8-month delay due to the equipment malfunction.
They were aboard the Starliner, one of Boeing's newest spaceships funded by NASA, an investment of over 1.6 billion dollars of its Commercial Crew Program to help Boeing compete with SpaceX.
They are currently safe on the ISS, but this incident adds to speculation about Boeing's risk with its aircraft technology and how a lack of oversight has led to its recent issues.
This grim news discredits the safety of Boeing aircraft and is leading many to question their own safety when flying with Boeing technology. NASA still opposes this view, supports Boeing's credibility, and claims their partnership will continue until this issue is resolved.
Still. Williams and Wilmore are successfully adjusting to life in space. Both have prior experience in space, but Williams stated she will miss time with her Mom and Wilmore will not be present for his youngest daughter's senior year in high school. Both Williams and Wilmore will be voting from space through the use of absentee ballots.
Last month, the Space X Dragon Spacecraft docked on the ISS. The current plan is that these two astronauts will stay on the ISS until February 2025, and then they will finally return to Earth with two other astronauts on the Space X Dragon Spacecraft.
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