Opinion | An Eight-Day Space Mission Turned Into Six Months. Astronauts Are Built Different.
Most of us would panic if we were stranded in space without a firm return date.But Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore aren’t like most of us.Ms.
Williams and Mr.Wilmore, two NASA astronauts, left for the International Space Station on June 5 for what was intended to be an eight-day mission.
They have now spent six months and counting in space.Technical issues on their spacecraft, involving thruster malfunctions and helium leaks in the propulsion system, rendered its return ride too risky for human flight.
Last week NASA announced that the retrieval mission — originally set for February — is again up in the air.And yet I suspect that Ms.Williams and Mr.
Wilmore aren’t about to lose their cool, even with this latest twist in plans.When I spoke to them at a news conference in September, they seemed remarkably at ease with the situation.
These trials “make you stronger,” he said, even as he described missing his youngest daughter’s senior year of high school.For decades, NASA has been working hard to identify and mitigate the countless hazards that might emerge during crewed missions to deep space.But as space missions get longer, the protagonists of these journeys are one thing that cannot be precisely assessed.
Their vulnerabilities, terrestrial needs and ability to live together in small spaces for years are only a few of the considerations that make up what the agency calls the human factor of spaceflight.Ms.Williams and Mr.
Wilmore’s predicament, as unfortunate and troubling as it is, serves as an important test for the space agency’s efforts.How well the two are able to adapt to their changing circumstances will reflect not only their own mettle but also NASA’s ability to select astronauts who can handle this type of unexpected setback.
The future of interplanetary space exploration — by NASA, other countries and private companies like SpaceX — will depend on astronauts adjusting to wildly unpredictable circumstances like these.For a...