can they finally return to earth?
2024-09-29
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according to the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) website, on the afternoon of the 28th local time, the "dragon" spacecraft of the us space exploration technology company (spacex) was launched aboard a falcon 9 rocket and carried two astronauts to fly internationally. space station. in addition to carrying out scientific experiments, the space mission, codenamed "crew-9", will also pick up two american astronauts who were stranded on the space station due to a failure of boeing's "starliner" spacecraft.
the dragon spacecraft is the first manned spacecraft built by a private company in the united states to transport astronauts to and from the space station. it is also the first manned spacecraft since the u.s. space shuttle to be certified by nasa to regularly transport astronauts to and from the space station.
this is the ninth time that the dragon spacecraft has transported rotating astronauts to the international space station. the two astronauts are nick hague from the united states and alexander gorbunov from russia.
according to nasa, the two astronauts will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations on the space station, including research on blood coagulation, the impact of humidity on the growth of plants in the space environment, and changes in astronauts' vision.
according to plan, the dragon spacecraft will return to earth at the end of february next year. this also means that the two "wandering" american astronauts who "hitched a ride" home will be stranded on the space station for a total of more than eight months. u.s. officials said spacex was unable to allow them to return early without affecting other scheduled missions.
on june 5 this year, american astronauts wilmore and williams launched into space on the first manned test flight of boeing's "starliner" spacecraft, and flew to the international space station on june 6. the spacecraft was originally scheduled to leave the international space station and return to earth on june 14, but due to problems such as propeller failure and helium leaks, the return time was repeatedly postponed. the two astronauts have been stranded on the international space station for more than two months.
on august 24, masa announced its final decision. due to concerns about the safety of boeing's "starliner", the two american astronauts stranded on the international space station will return to earth on the spacex "dragon" spacecraft, scheduled for february next year. the two's original eight-day space journey will be extended to eight months.
on september 6, boeing's "starliner" broke away from the international space station and returned to earth without crew. a nasa spokesman said that he was happy with the success of the landing. "it would be better if it could go as planned (the two astronauts returned together)."
the british broadcasting corporation (bbc) pointed out that boeing and spacex can be described as "competitors". both companies have obtained contracts from nasa to provide commercial space travel for astronauts, hoping to reduce costs. however, many us media believe that the first manned test flight of boeing's "starliner" spacecraft ended in this way, which undoubtedly heightened public concerns about the safety of its product.
