Trump’s political trick ‘rescue’ ISS astronauts is moving

The Starliner saga has been ongoing for almost five months, but the recently inaugurated President Donald Trump has decided to try to rush for a last minute rescue operation. According to the reports, NASA will exchange a Spacex Dragon spacecraft for another to return the two Starliner astronauts a little earlier than expected, fulfilling Trump’s attempt to save the crew that he does not need to save.

According to reports, NASA is working to bring two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) on March 19, about two weeks before the agency’s current plan, an anonymous source said Ars Technica. This occurs shortly after President Trump announced that he had asked the founder and CEO of Spacex, Elon Musk, that “he will look for the 2 brave astronauts that the Biden administration has abandoned practically in space”, “He,” ” He wrote About social truth. The effort to hurry the return of the Starliner crew will not only require the reorganization of the spacecraft on the ground, but it is also safe to delay a private mission to the ISS.

NASA Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched the ISS aboard the CST-100 Starliner of Boeing on June 5, 2024. The mission was originally reduced for eight days in space, but problems with the propellants of the spaceship forced NASA to return an empty star back from the ISS, considering insecure to transport the crew to the earth. Instead, Williams and Wilmore would return aboard a Spacex Dragon spacecraft.

NASA launched its CREW-9 mission in September 2024 with two astronauts instead of four. The two empty seats were reserved for Williams and Wilmore, who were ready to return next to the crew-9 crew in February, but there were more problems ahead. The NASA Spacex-10 team was originally established for takeoff in February, but the technical problems with the vehicle delayed its launch and the subsequent delivery of the crew. That means that CREW-9, together with Williams and Wilmore, will not be able to leave the ISS until CREW-10 is at the space station, further delaying the return of Starliner astronauts in early April.

NASA now believes that the dragon capsule will not be ready to launch the ISS until the end of April, so the agency has decided to exchange spacecraft, according to Ars Technica. According to reports, NASA has asked Spacex to launch the CREW-10 mission aboard its Dragon C210 vehicle not before March 12. This spacex vehicle in particular, called EnduranceHe returned to Earth in March 2024 after completing the CREW-7 mission and the fourth private mission of Axiom Space will be launched to the ISS in spring. If this new plan enters into force, Starliner astronauts can return home on March 19 after having spent 286 days in space.

Astronauts usually spend about six months aboard the ISS, and some remain in space for a little more than a year. Although the duration of its stay in space is not exceptional, the history of Starliner astronauts has attracted world media attention and has even taken a political turn since the inauguration of Trump. While the crew had an unfortunate trip to space, astronauts have not been abandoned or need an accelerated rescue mission.