About ten months ago, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams embarked on what was supposed to be a groundbreaking journey. They were set to fly on the maiden crewed voyage of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, aimed at reaching the International Space Station (ISS). This mission, however, turned into a harrowing saga due to a series of technical failures.
The spacecraft finally lifted off on June 5, 2024, after three scheduled launches were scrubbed. The discovery of helium leaks on the capsule led to added complications. Once in orbit, the crew faced intensified challenges, particularly with the docking procedures, due to thruster malfunctions.
“I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point,” Wilmore said. “I don’t know if we can. And matter of fact, I’m thinking we probably can’t.”
NASA, seemingly desperate to make the mission a success, bent its own flight rules. They allowed multiple attempts to dock with the ISS, even as key thrusters continued to fail. This left Wilmore and Williams in peril, potentially needing to abort the mission and return to Earth prematurely.
As they tried to dock with the ISS, the mission was on the brink of disaster, being just one thruster failure away from losing complete control of the capsule.
“We’re single fault tolerant, and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, we’re supposed to leave the space station,’” Wilmore said. “Because I know the flight rules.”
“We’re already past the point where we were supposed to leave, and now we’re zero-fault tolerant and I’m manual control. And, oh my, the control is sluggish. Compared to the first day, it is not the same spacecraft. Am I able to maintain control? I am. But it is not the same.”
“There was a lot of unsaid communication, like, ‘Hey, this is a very precarious situation we’re in’. I think both of us overwhelmingly felt like it would be really nice to dock to that space station that’s right in front of us.”
In total, four out of the 28 reaction control system thrusters failed, which placed the astronauts in a precarious position.
Wilmore and Williams eventually returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule earlier this month, having been unexpectedly stranded on the ISS for nine months. Their mission was originally intended to last just a week.
WATCH SPACE RESCUE LIVE: SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ‘Freedom’ Returns to Earth, Bringing Stranded Astronauts Wilmore and Williams – Splashdown Expected at 5:57pm EDT
