Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS, or the International Space Station, for seven months, despite only planning to stay for eight days in June.
The two faced an issue with their ship when they noticed that there was a damaged piece of the cooling system, causing it to leak, making it unsafe for reuse.
Because the Starliner spacecraft was no longer an option to return home, NASA chose the Crew Dragon spacecraft, developed by SpaceX, to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth safely.
As of now, NASA has scheduled to launch the Crew Dragon spacecraft sometime around the middle of February to early March.
Williams and Wilmore are still conducting research and working on various experiments aboard the ISS awaiting the SpaceX craft’s arrival.
WJPS 11th grader Ricardo Aviles-Valle said, “The situation is scary to think about, especially when they’ve been away from home and they’re in such a small space for so long.”
WJPS 11th grader Jack Annibale said, “I don’t think it’s right how they haven’t sent any ships to come rescue them earlier in the year. They shouldn’t have to wait so long.”
“The International Space Station and the Docked Space Shuttle Endeavour” by europeanspaceagency is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
