Lyubov Stepushova Courtesy Pravda

Russia can return stranded astronauts from the ISS, but a political solution is needed

NASA has postponed until the end of August a decision on when and how to return home two astronauts who are stuck on the ISS. The only safe option is on the Soyuz.

Photo: flickr.com by NASA Robert Markowitz is licensed under In the public domain in the United States

Boeing’s shame – Starliner engines failed to dock with the ISS

The problem arose with the Boeing Starliner carrier spacecraft, on which astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suny Williams launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in early June. Their expedition was supposed to be completed in a week, but has been going on for more than two months.

According to NBC news. com, this was the first flight of the Starliner, and if it had been successful, then the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would have been able to certify Boeing to perform regular flights to the ISS.

But five Starliner engines failed during docking. There was also a helium leak from the propulsion system during the flight – a problem that NASA was aware of, but Boeing did not finalize.

On top of that, a moratorium was imposed on astronauts on spacewalks – their spacesuits failed. According to reports, they live in conditions that are far from ideal: they lack places to sleep, they experience increasing psychological stress and health risks.

NASA is considering two options for rescuing astronauts

Two options for returning are considered:

1. Solve problems with Starliner. NASA said that together with Boeing engineers, they disassembled and are testing the ship’s engine, similar to those in orbit. They are also trying to deal with the helium leak. For this, the laboratory also dismantled the service module. However, there is a risk – faulty Starliner engines can lead to a loss of control of the spacecraft immediately after undocking from the ISS, which can end in an accident.
2. Use the Dragon spacecraft of rival Boeing company SpaceX, which is supposed to deliver new astronauts to the orbital station in September as part of the Crew-9 project. NASA said it could send two astronauts instead of the planned four, and land Wilmore and Williams on the empty two seats on the way back at the end of the Crew-9 expedition in February.

According to NASA, in this case, the Starliner will return to Earth without a crew. The main problem in this case is to ensure the life process of the astronauts and the equipment of the spacecraft.

The launch of the Dragon carrier to the ISS is scheduled for August 18, but there is no certainty that the launch will take place, since there are also technical problems.

The third option for saving the astronauts is to ask Russia

There is also a third option – to ask Russia to pick up the astronauts on the Soyuz. The head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, during a speech at the Terra Scientia forum, said that space should be out of politics, so the Russian side is careful about maintaining interaction within the framework of the international ISS project.

“Today, American colleagues have problems with the Starliner, they do not know how to lower the crew. We are in constant dialogue with them,” Borisov said.

However, a political solution is needed in Washington. The National Space Council is headed by Vice President and now US presidential candidate Kamala Harris. She fears negative press coverage of the space disaster, so the decision will be postponed until after the election in November.

“The return of Williams and Wilmore aboard the malfunctioning Starliner would be too risky for her presidential prospects,” the New York Post believes.

In 2014, Boeing and SpaceX were awarded multibillion-dollar contracts to provide the U.S. space agency with flights to the ISS after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. But so far they have not created a reliable carrier ship. The problems, as we can see, are with the engines. As a result, the United States had to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets for a long time to deliver crews. Now Dragon flies with a high degree of risk.

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