Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams along with astronaut Butch Wilmore is expected to return back to Earth without a spacesuit. Stuck in space since over 2 months, NASA has revealed that the biggest challenge they are facing is the incompatibility of spacesuits with SpaceX’s Dragon craft.
NASA has been struggling to bring back the astronauts safely and has now started exploring the option of taking help from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. However, it has now come to light that the Boeing spacesuits are not compatible with SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. This could cause additional risks.
As per the official statement by NASA, “From a suits standpoint, they are really not interchangeable. You can't use a Boeing suit in a SpaceX vehicle or a SpaceX suit in a Boeing vehicle, so that would not be the plan. If the Starliner undocks and only the Dragon is available, they might have to return unsuited on the Dragon.”
However, if the astronauts come back in February 2025, NASA will have enough time to send appropriate spacesuits to them.
Talking about the date for return, Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate stated, "Everybody will like a date, but we got some working dates, but I know we need to maintain that flexibility...right now, Butch and Suni are well engaged on board the ISS...I know that they are making the best of the time, but I am sure they are eager for a decision just like the rest of us, and when we have that, we will be sure to get together with the rest of you and share that information."
He added, “We are nearing the point where we need to make a decision, ideally by the last week of August."
While the 8-day mission is being delayed indefinitely, NASA is taking care of the astronauts’ well-being. They send a supply vehicle with food supplies and other important things for their survival time to time. Extra SpaceX flight suits will be sent on the upcoming Crew-9 Dragon mission, which is scheduled to arrive at the ISS in the coming months. This will be done to make astronauts well equipped before returning. However, it is expected that the astronauts might have to return unsuited on Crew-8 spacecraft in an event of emergency.