CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two trapped astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a smaller crew to bring them home, but only until next year.

The capsule launched into orbit to retrieve the test pilots, whose Boeing aircraft had returned to Earth empty earlier this month due to safety concerns. The change in rides required NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov to retrieve Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Because NASA rotates space station crews every six months, this recently launched spacecraft, which has two vacant seats allocated for Wilmore and Williams, will not return until late February. Officials claimed there was no way to bring them back sooner on SpaceX without disrupting other scheduled operations.

SpaceX Launches Rescue Mission For 2 NASA Astronauts Who Are Stuck In Space Until Next Year

By the time they return, the two will have spent over eight months in space. They signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut journey, which launched in June, expecting to be gone for only a week.

NASA ultimately judged that Boeing’s Starliner was too risky after a series of thruster problems and helium leaks hampered its journey to the orbiting complex. The space agency removed two astronauts from this SpaceX mission to create room on the Dragon capsule’s return leg for Wilmore and Williams.

According to NASA deputy program manager Dina Contella, Wilmore and Williams observed the liftoff via a live link broadcast to the space station, causing Williams to scream “Go Dragon!”.

Williams has been appointed to commander of the space station, which will soon return to its normal crew of seven. Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive on Sunday, the four astronauts who have been there since March will be able to leave in their own SpaceX capsule. Starliner’s problems caused a month-long delay in their return home.

Hague stated before the trip that change is the one constant in human spaceflight.

“There is always something that changes. “Maybe this time it was more visible to the public,” he explained.

Hague was appointed commander of the rescue mission based on his experience and handling of a launch incident six years prior. The Russian rocket failed shortly after takeoff, and the capsule holding him and a cosmonaut was propelled off the top to safety.

Rookie NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space flier Stephanie Wilson were removed from this journey after NASA decided to work with SpaceX to bring the trapped astronauts home. Both promised a future space voyage and were there at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre to watch the launch live. Gorbunov remained aboard the voyage as part of a NASA-Russian Space Agency exchange agreement.

“Every crewed launch that I’ve ever seen has made me quite emotional. “This one today was especially unique,” a teary-eyed Cardman said after the early afternoon launch. “It was hard not to watch that rocket lift off without thinking, ‘That’s my rocket and that’s my crew.'”

Moments before liftoff, Hague paid tribute to his two colleagues who were left behind, saying, “Unbreakable. “We did it together.” Once in orbit, he referred to it as a “sweet ride” and expressed gratitude to everyone who made it possible.

Previously, Hague acknowledged the difficulties of launching with half a crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.

SpaceX Launches Rescue Mission For 2 NASA Astronauts Who Are Stuck In Space Until Next Year

“We’ve got a dynamic challenge ahead of us,” Hague stated after returning from Houston last weekend. “We know each other and we’re professionals and we step up and do what’s asked of us.”

SpaceX has long been at the forefront of NASA’s commercial crew program, which began more than a decade ago while the space shuttles were being retired. In 2020, SpaceX outperformed Boeing in terms of astronaut delivery to the space station, and NASA now has ten crew trips scheduled.

Boeing has struggled with a number of challenges over the years, including repeating a Starliner test flight with no one on board after the original one went off course. The Starliner that left Wilmore and Williams in space landed safely in the New Mexico desert on September 6 and has since returned to the Kennedy Space Centre. Boeing removed its defence and space chief a week ago.

The latest SpaceX liftoff, delayed by Hurricane Helene battering Florida, was the first for astronauts from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40. SpaceX took over the old Titan rocket pad nearly two decades ago and utilised it for satellite and station cargo launches, as well as flying people from Kennedy’s older Apollo and shuttle pads next door. As the number of Falcon rockets increased, the firm desired greater flexibility.

SOURCE | AP

The scientific director of the corporation that owned the Titan submarine, which collapsed last year while en route to the Titanic ruins, testified Thursday that the sub had malfunctioned immediately before the tragic dive.

Steven Ross, speaking before a US Coast Guard panel, described a platform issue that the experimental submersible encountered in June 2023, just days before it collapsed on its route to the Titanic site. The breakdown prompted passengers on the submersible to “tumble about,” and it took an hour to pull them out of the water.

Ross stated the submersible pilot, OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, slammed into bulkheading during the incident. Ross claimed no one was hurt in the encounter, which he described as uncomfortable.

Titan Submersible’s Scientific Director Says The Sub Malfunctioned Just Prior To The Titanic Dive

“A passenger was dangling upside down. “The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap,” Ross said, adding that he didn’t know if the Titan’s safety or hull were inspected following the event.

An investigative panel heard three days of testimony that highlighted concerns about the company’s practices before the disastrous trip. Rush was one of five persons killed when the submarine imploded en route to the Titanic disaster in June 2023.

Renata Rojas, the company’s mission expert, told the Coast Guard earlier Thursday that the organization was staffed by qualified people who wanted to “make dreams come true.” Rojas’ evidence contrasted with that of several of the other witnesses, who depicted the corporation as plagued from the top down and more concerned with profit than research or safety.

“I was learning a lot and working with amazing people,” Rojas told me. “Some of those people are very hard-working individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true.”

Rojas also stated that she thought the corporation was sufficiently transparent leading up to the Titanic sinking. Her testimony was emotional at times, and the Coast Guard panel suggested she take a small pause to calm herself.

Rojas is a member of the Explorers Club, which lost Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet during the Titan explosion. Following the implosion, the club described Rush as “a friend of The Explorers Club”.

“I was aware that what I was doing was extremely unsafe. “I never felt unsafe during the operation,” Rojas said in testimony Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard held a public hearing as part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion. The public hearing began on Sept. 16, and some of the testimony has touched on issues the corporation faced before to the deadly 2023 dive.

Investigators have also published underwater footage of the submersible wreckage. The footage captures the submersible’s tail cone and other wreckage on the ocean floor.

Former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge testified Tuesday that he frequently argued with Rush and that the business was primarily concerned with making money.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge stated. “There was very little in the way of science.”

The session is set to last until Friday, with more witnesses scheduled to appear and resume next week.

Lochridge and other witnesses described a corporation run by people eager to get the unconventionally designed craft into the sea. The fatal disaster sparked a global debate over the future of private undersea exploration.

At the opening of the hearing, Coast Guard officials stated that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, which is typical protocol. That, together with Titan’s unconventional design, drew scrutiny from the submarine exploration community.

Titan Submersible’s Scientific Director Says The Sub Malfunctioned Just Prior To The Titanic Dive

OceanGate, situated in Washington state, halted operations following the implosion. The company currently has no full-time employees, although it was represented by an attorney at the hearing.

During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after exchanging texts about the Titan’s depth and weight as it plummeted. The support ship Polar Prince then sent several communications enquiring whether the Titan could still see the spacecraft on its onboard monitor.

According to a graphic simulation shown earlier in the hearing, one of Titan’s crew’s final transmissions to Polar Prince before the submersible collapsed said, “all good here.”

When the submersible was reported lost, rescuers hurried ships, planes, and other equipment to a location around 435 miles (700 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Four days later, wreckage from the Titanic was discovered on the ocean floor roughly 330 yards (300 meters) off the Titanic’s bow, according to Coast Guard officials.

Nobody on board survived. Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were the other two people killed by the implosion.

OceanGate stated that it has been fully participating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic crash site since 2021.

SOURCE | AP

NASA withdrew two astronauts from the next crew on Friday to create room on the return voyage for the two stuck at the International Space Station.

NASA Cuts 2 From Next SpaceX Flight To Make Room For Astronauts Stuck At Space Station

NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch the orbiting laboratory in September using a SpaceX rocket. In February, the duo will reunite with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. NASA felt it was too unsafe for Williams and Wilmore to return home in their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which had propulsion issues and helium leaks.

NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were bumped from their SpaceX flight. NASA stated that they could fly on future missions.

The space agency considered spaceflight experience and other considerations while choosing.

After the shuttles were retired, the United States relied on Russia to transport crews to the space station until SpaceX began carrying humans in 2020. The two countries continue to exchange seats. Next month, NASA’s Don Pettit will launch to the space station, while NASA’s Tracy Dyson will return to Earth via a Russian capsule.

NASA Cuts 2 From Next SpaceX Flight To Make Room For Astronauts Stuck At Space Station

NASA turned to commercial enterprises a decade ago, seeking two competing US companies to transport humans in the post-shuttle era.

In June, Boeing’s first crew, Williams and Wilmore, arrived at the space station for a planned week-long stay. Their capsule will return empty as early as next Friday, aiming to land in the New Mexico desert.

SOURCE | AP