The worst disasters to occur in space
Two US astronauts may be stuck in space until 2025 due to faulty Boeing Starliner
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LIFESTYLE Space travel
Journeying into space is pretty dangerous stuff. Relatively few missions sent to explore space over the years have been crewed, and for good reason. The risk to human (and animal) life is always high, even as technology in this field advances rapidly.
In one of the scariest disasters in recent years, two US astronauts who were meant to spend eight days traveling to and from the International Space Station (ISS) have been stuck there for over two months. What's more, they may not be able to get home until 2025. This is due to the myriad of technical issues that have left their craft, the new Boeing Starliner capsule, unsafe to use. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were the first crew to fly the ship on its maiden voyage—an unlucky predicament, as it turns out. The mission launch occurred on June 5, and the Starliner made it to the ISS safely. However, several technical issues came to light that made it impossible for Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth on the scheduled date. What was supposed to be eight days stretched into eight weeks as Boeing and NASA attempted to resolve the issues. In July, Boeing revealed that four of Starliner's jet fuels had failed, the thrusters were malfunctioning, and there were helium leaks.
The Starliner, as well as the two astronauts, have now been at the ISS for over 60 days. The Starliner can only remain docked for a maximum of 90 days. NASA and Boeing now say that the Starliner may have to return to Earth uncrewed when the time is up if the faults haven't been repaired to everyone's satisfaction, meaning it wouldn't be safe to carry Wilmore and Williams. If this is the case, the pair will have to wait until the next spacecraft capable of carrying humans visits the ISS in 2025. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is scheduled to visit the space station and return to Earth in February next year. Boeing are determined to get Wilmore and Williams home before the 90 days is up, but sources say NASA officials are not sufficiently confident in their reports regarding the safety testing of the Starliner.
While the world waits to see when and how these astronauts will make it back to Earth, let's look back at some of the worst disasters in the history of space travel to remember what is at stake.
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