Astronauts Launch to International Space Station After Yearlong Delay
Cape Canaveral, Fla. — Astronauts who have been grounded for the past year due to Boeing’s Starliner issues finally took off on Friday, heading to the International Space Station (ISS) with the help of SpaceX.
The crew, which includes American, Japanese, and Russian astronauts, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They are set to replace their colleagues who had launched in March as interim replacements for astronauts still awaiting their chance to fly.
Their SpaceX capsule is expected to reach the ISS over the weekend and will remain there for at least six months.
Zena Cardman, a biologist and polar explorer who was meant to launch last year, expressed her excitement after finally taking to the skies. “I have no emotion but joy right now. That was absolutely transcendent. Ride of a lifetime,” Cardman said.
Due to issues with the Starliner, backup astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had to use a SpaceX flight to return after a trip that far exceeded the planned weeklong stay.
“Every astronaut wants to be in space. None of us want to stay on the ground, but it’s not about me,” Cardman remarked before her flight.
NASA’s Mike Fincke, who was scheduled to partner with Cardman, previously served as a backup for the Starliner’s crew, making him, along with Wilmore and Williams, the only astronauts certified to fly the Starliner. With the aircraft grounded until 2026, Fincke and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui were reassigned to this latest SpaceX mission.
“It’s great to be back in orbit again,” Fincke said after liftoff. His last mission took place in 2011 during one of NASA’s final shuttle flights.
Joining the crew is Russia’s Oleg Platonov, who was previously taken out of the Soyuz lineup due to health issues that have since been resolved.
On Thursday, NASA’s acting administrator, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, was present for the first launch attempt. He met with Roscosmos director Dmitry Bakanov to discuss future cooperation in space exploration. Duffy emphasized the importance of these missions in achieving ambitious goals like returning to the moon and eventually reaching Mars.
To manage tight budgets, NASA is looking at extending astronaut stays on the ISS from six months to eight and considering smaller crews for SpaceX missions to save costs.
Meanwhile, the future of the Starliner program remains uncertain, as NASA may focus on cargo flights before sending out another crew. Investigations into the thruster failures and helium leaks that have troubled Starliner are ongoing, especially with an eye toward plans to retire the aging space station by 2030.
NASA’s Ken Bowersox stated that cooperation between the U.S. and Russia will be essential to safely deorbit the ISS, which is expected to make its final descent into the Pacific Ocean by early 2031.
As the plans for the space station’s final days progress, NASA aims to ensure that astronauts will be available to manage any issues that may arise during those last months in orbit.
