A pair of stranded astronauts will be close to a step to come home on Friday for the International Space Station to come home when the next crew is launched.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 pm (2303 GMT), which was stopped on Wednesday after a technical issue with ground systems, after carrying a dragon spacecraft on crew -10 mission.
Crew-10 borres an international four-member team to carry out science experiments at orbital lab-but maximum interest comes from the fact that their arrival enables others to depart.
NASA pair of Buch Wilmor and Sunita Williams, experienced astronauts and East-Navi Pilot, have boarded the ISS since June, after the Boeing Starelineer spacecraft they were testing on its first crew flight and were deemed to be unfit to fly back.
Instead the Starlineer returned empty, without experiencing further major issues.
A day -long journey for Wilmore and Williams meant that it had now lasted for more than nine months.
His stay has long been longer than the standard ISS rotation for around six months astronauts-but still from 2022-2023, NASA astronaut is much less than the 371-day American space records set by Frank Rubio, or the world records organized by Russian Cosmonott Valry Polycov, who had spent 1994-19995 to 437 consecutive days.
Nevertheless, his unpredictable nature of his long -term families – he had to get additional clothes and personal care items because he did not pack enough – has gained interest and sympathy.
It has also become something late as a political flashpoint, as President Donald Trump and his close advisor, Elon Musk – who leads SpaceX – suggested that the former President Joe Biden deliberately “left” the pair and rejected the plan to bring them back soon.
‘Perhaps they love each other’
This claim caused an uproar in the space community, especially since Musk did not provide any specificity.
The pair’s return plan has since been unchanged, since they were re-handed over to SpaceX’s crew-9, who took only two crew members riding on another dragon in September-to create room for-Vilmore and Williams instead of a normal four.
Danish Astronaut Andreas Mogenson pointed it on X, only to taunt her with a solution for mentally disabled people for Musk.
Some retired astronauts fled to protect Mogensen – while Wilmore looked back at Musk, saying that his comments may have been “factual”, even if he was not private for any detail.
Trump himself is making waves for his bizarre comments, referring to Williams, a former naval captain, “The Woman with the Wild Hair” and even suggested fall in love.
During the recent White House press conference, he said, “They have been left there -I hope they like each other, perhaps they love each other, I don’t know.”
Crew -9 can leave the crew -9 spaceship only once the crew -10 spaceship comes. The handover period typically lasts for a few days, and a plan earlier would have departed Crew -9 on Sunday for Splashdown from Florida coast -although it is not clear whether this timeline is still possible.
Along with Wilmore and Williams, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonot Alexandra Gorbunov will also board the Returning Dragon capsules.
Despite the Space Ukraine struggle remains a region of collaboration between the United States and Russia, Cosmonots are doing the same through SpaceX crew dragons and astronauts launched from Kazakhstan to Kazakhstan.
The Crew -10 team consists of NASA astronaut Anne McClen and Nicole Aars, Japan’s Takua Onishi and Russia’s Kiril Peskov.
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