NASA has decided it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule. They’ll have to wait until February for a ride home with SpaceX.
Well, technically they’re stuck, because I don’t think there’s enough seats to get everyone home without the Boeing capsule, until a SpaceX one arrives in 6 months.
Their backup plan is to have the extra 2 astronauts lie on the floor of the Crew Dragon and reenter without suits. Yep. That’s still safer than Starliner.
Quick correction, the SpaceX Crew-9 is scheduled to depart in 6 months. It will arrive (with two empty seats) in September. So Suni and Butch will only be “stuck” for the few days between when Starliner undocks and when the Crew-9 capsule arrives.
Well, technically they’re stuck, because I don’t think there’s enough seats to get everyone home without the Boeing capsule, until a SpaceX one arrives in 6 months.
Their backup plan is to have the extra 2 astronauts lie on the floor of the Crew Dragon and reenter without suits. Yep. That’s still safer than Starliner.
They will have suits. There is a spare on the ISS, and Dragon will bring another one up. They covered that in the press conference.
I meant for the 3 weeks between when Starliner leaves and the Crew 9 Dragon gets there.
Quick correction, the SpaceX Crew-9 is scheduled to depart in 6 months. It will arrive (with two empty seats) in September. So Suni and Butch will only be “stuck” for the few days between when Starliner undocks and when the Crew-9 capsule arrives.