STRANDED ASTRONAUTS FACING GRIM FUTURE
Slim chances for a safe landing
IF THE two NASA astronauts stranded in space try to return to Earth in the faulty Boeing Starliner spaceship, they could end up vaporized or floating helplessly in space until they die of starvation or lack of oxygen, warn experts.
Rocketeers Sunita Williams, 58, and Butch Wilmore, 61, were supposed to visit the International Space Station for just eight days after their Boeing Starliner rocket docked on June 5.
But defects with the Starliner's thrusters have marooned them at least until September or — worst case scenario — next February, says NASA.
And that's not the bad news. Experts say the Starliner has problems in the service module, the ship's control center that runs the thrusters, power and life support like water and oxygen — and also aligns the craft for reentry to Earth's atmosphere.
And if that's on the blink, the astronauts are doomed!
“So long as the capsule is lined up correctly for reentry, everything's fine,” says Rudy Ridolfi, former U.S. Space System commander.
“If the Starliner Service Module places the capsule in too steep of a reentry window then the capsule's ablative heat shield would probably fail.
“They either burn up or bounce back into space.”
Politics may be keeping the astronauts floating.
Sources say Elon Musk's rival SpaceX rocket could be used to rescue the astronauts sooner, but that would embarrass Boeing.
Also, if NASA decides to go ahead with the Starliner and it doesn't vaporize, but drifts off in space, there's a plan to rescue the astronauts by sending another vessel to dock with Starliner.
“NASA knows how to do this, but it just takes time,” Ridolfi says. “If Starliner bounces off the atmosphere they have to locate it.
“You can get a general guess of where it is, but you have to start taking radar, optical observations and calculate the orbit that it's now in.
“So that could probably take about 180 minutes, call it three hours.”
Meanwhile, NASA bigwigs are reportedly tossing around using SpaceX for the rescue and not waiting to fix the Starliner.