The eight-day mission by astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore been extended into an indefinite stay until 2025, drastically altering conditions on the International Space Station.
In June, astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, traveling on Boeing’s new Starliner, arrived to the International Space Station.
However, before docking, the trip had thruster problems and helium leaks, delaying the two astronauts’ return voyage until 2025.
NASA is considering returning the astronauts on a SpaceX trip, despite Boeing’s insistence that they were not stranded and that “there’s no increased risk” in doing so.
The eight-day visit has extended to almost two months, with February 2025 being the earliest possible departure date.
astronauts will survive, even if they are supposed to have ample supplies aboard the space station.
Facilities in space
At 356 feet from end to end, the International Space Station is the size of an American football field.
It features a 360-degree panoramic bay window, two baths, a gym, and six sleeping spaces. There are presently seven other astronauts there besides Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore.
Approximately 50% of the oxygen exhaled from carbon dioxide is replenished by the space station’s own oxygen-generating equipment. Additionally, a recycling mechanism converts sweat or pee into water.
Meals prepared by NASA’s Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston are available dehydrated and ready to eat.
Sunita Williams appears in a video posted on NASA’s YouTube account that her favorite food aboard the station is a container of Nutter Butter spread that her family provided.
Their final supply run was launched on May 30 from a rocket in Kazakhstan and arrived on August 6. Even more, crews are able to give Mission Control precise directives. Williams and Wilmore at last got their own outfits aboard the space station on August 6.
Additionally, Sunita Williams demonstrated the space station’s bathroom system in a 2012 video. Urine and waste have their own suction-equipped pipelines for astronauts.
Astronauts have tiny, phone-booth-sized pods with sleeping bags and pillows, but they can also sleep on any flat surface in space.
Williams and Wilmore’s situation now
The two astronauts informed the public during their one and only press conference in July that they were staying busy, assisting with repairs and research, and expressing confidence in Starliner’s testing.
“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” Williams added.
Wilmore concurred as well. “We trust that the tests that we’re doing are the ones we need to do to get the right answers, to give us the data that we need to come back.”
