One hell of a path to promotion.
Chaos Is a Ladder
After her ride back home left her stranded in orbit, NASA astronaut Suni Williams has now taken control of the International Space Station.
On Monday, Williams was sworn in as commander to mark the commencement of ISS Expedition 72, taking over from Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko. This is the second time that Williams has served as commander aboard the orbital outpost, and another twist in what has been a whirlwind few months for the veteran astronaut, whose current stint in space was originally only meant to last eight days, but is now stretching to eight months.
Kononenko, along with his countryman Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, departed for terra firma later that day aboard a Soyuz MS-25 crew capsule, landing in Kazakhstan.
Williams, ironically, was supposed to be home already. But when she arrived with NASA flight engineer Butch Wilmore in June, the Boeing Starliner capsule that ferried them there — and was intended to bring them back — ran into a heap of technical issues.
To avoid risking the safety of its astronauts, NASA was forced to send the Starliner back to Earth with no one on board, leaving Williams and Wilmore to wait until February 2025 before they can return on a SpaceX shuttle.
Keeping Classy
It speaks to her character, then, that Williams has been a good sport about the whole debacle, handling her new and unexpected role with a professional grace.
“Expedition 71 has taught all of us a lot about flexibility, and the ability to adapt to a number of amazing things. A lot of things weren’t planned, and somehow you guys put it all together and did it,” Williams said to her outgoing Russian colleagues in a speech during the change of command ceremony, per Space.com. “You adopted Butch and I, even though that was not quite the plan, but here we are as part of the family.”
“And Tracy, we’re gonna miss your desk and your organization, and your ability to make order out of chaos, even in the craziest of times,” she added. “So we thank you, all three of you, for that.”
Farce-Liner
The Starliner spacecraft that was supposed to bring Williams and Wilmore home was wracked with software issues, thruster failures, and helium leaks. Some of these issues, like the leaks, were apparent before it even launched.
Its mounting failures, topped by making a near-botch job of docking with the ISS, spiraled into a huge embarrassment for NASA and Boeing, which had to cut their losses by sending the Starliner back to Earth empty, disrupting the space agency’s original plans to rotate its astronauts.
It’s now down to SpaceX to pick up the pieces. Its Crew Dragon capsule will head for the ISS with only two astronauts instead of four, leaving room for Williams and Wilmore to finally return in February.
The NASA mission, SpaceX Crew-9, is expected to launch on Saturday, September 28.
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