Stranded 254 miles above Earth, astronauts Butch Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 59, are in shortage of food supply and now surviving even on soup made from water recycled from their own urine.
What started as an eight-day mission in June has turned into a six-month ordeal, after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft meant to bring them home suffered helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, rendering it too dangerous for a manned return trip, according to foreign journals.
Sunita and Butch went to the International Space Station for a test flight of the first spacecraft made by Boeing Starliner last June. They were supposed to return from space after 8 days. But the Boeing vehicle had several mechanical problems, including a gas leak that caused the thruster to become unusable. They could fix it despite many attempts. As a result, Sunita was stuck in space for an indefinite period. NASA was forced to change its plan.
Boeing and NASA had to approach Elon Musk's company SpaceX. A few days ago, the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was returned to Earth without passengers. Sunita will return on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. NASA's Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbonov took the SpaceX vehicle. They will return with Sunita in February next year. A leading American daily has claimed that astronauts in space are slowly running out of food and supplies. Although NASA assures that there is no food shortage.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
