Space to Ground: Mission Update: Aug. 30, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

What is said in the film

Welcome to space to ground, I’m chelsey ballarte. Nasa astronauts butch wilmore and suni williams are staying aboard the international space station until next year. So, what does that mean for the astronauts? We’ve got the details on some of questions you’ve been asking, plus, nasa announced that nasa astronaut jonny kim will fly to the space station for the very first time. Butch wilmore and suni williams launched to the international space station back in june.

They arrived in a boeing starliner spacecraft as part of nasa’s boeing crew flight test mission. This past weekend, nasa announced that butch and suni will not be coming home in that same starliner spacecraft. "nasa has decided that butch and suni will return with crew 9 next february and that starliner will return uncrewed... Our core value is safety, and it is our north star. And I am grateful to nasa and to boeing for their teams for all the incredible and detailed work to get to this decision.

" butch and suni are now expedition 71 crewmembers, and they spend the majority of their day working on scientific experiments. But some of you had some questions. Like, does the space station have enough supplies to accommodate these two extra guests for a longer amount of time? And how will the astronaut’s bodies react to staying in space for 8 months? Fortunately, nasa already has a plan for both.

The international space station has plenty of food, clothing, and hygiene supplies for wilmore and williams. In fact, nasa keeps about 4 months worth of extra supplies on board at all times. The space station also receives regular shipments of goods though cargo spacecraft that resupply the station regularly. A cygnus cargo ship arrived earlier this month with supplies for williams and wilmore , and a spacex cargo dragon spacecraft is launching pretty soon. And in terms of their health, nasa astronauts regularly spend 6 motnhs to a year aboard the space station.

They spend over 2 hours per day doing cardio and weightlifting to keep their bodies in top shape, and williams and wilmore are no exception. They’re perfectly healthy now, and nasa expects they’ll return back to earth in full health at the end of their mission. The uncrewed boeing starliner spacecraft is set to depart the space station without wilmore and williams in early september. Nasa will give a briefing next week to discuss its plans all the way from undocking to its landing back on earth. And of course, we’ll have live coverage of the departure itself on nasa+, and check out the space station’s social media pages for details on both.

Butch and suni, and the whole space station crew will be able to welcome even more crewmates soon. On september 11, nasa astronaut don pettit is launching to the space station aboard a soyuz spacecraft, along with his roscosmos cosmonaut colleagues . It’ll be pettit’s fourth mission to the international space station. If you want to follow his mission, and all of the astrophotography he plans to do along the way, follow don pettit on x and instagram @ astro_pettit. Ok, he’s a medical doctor.

He’s a harvard grad. He’s a navy seal… he’s going to space. Nasa announced that nasa astronaut jonny kim will launch in march of 2025 aboard a roscosmos soyuz spacecraft. This will be the kim’s first trip to space and his training is already well underway. That’s all for space to ground, thanks for watching.

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