A Couple of Space Station Stories

NASA to President Trump and Elon Musk: "nope"

The big story that I think everyone has heard about is that (paraphrasing) President Trump told Elon Musk to go get the two astronauts stranded on the ISS - whom we've all come to be on a first name basis with: Suni Williams and Butch Wilcox.  

This was surprising to those of us who follow this stuff because we know they're now part of the Crew-9 mission after that mission was changed to two new ISS crew members instead of four, and were set to come back down around the end of February or start of March.  That was the story until about one month ago (last story at that link) when some issues with the (new) Crew-10 Crew Dragon capsule caused NASA to delay that February mission until late March.  The usual "week or two" overlap between the arriving and leaving crews is pushing that toward early April. 

At this point, I don't know that SpaceX could ready another Crew Dragon and go get them much sooner than that early April date.  A day or a week sooner out of a 10 month extended mission just doesn't mean much.

Later yesterday, NASA issued a reply sending essentially that statement to the President. 

In a statement to reporters Jan. 29, NASA stated it was proceeding with plans to return the Crew-9 astronauts “as soon as practical” and after the arrival of new astronauts on the upcoming Crew-10 mission.

“NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions,” the agency stated.

As of late today, neither Musk nor Trump have further elaborated on their earlier comments, or responded to NASA’s statement. 

Meanwhile, Butch and Suni are Having Fun

The two Starliner-turned-Crew-9 astronauts took a long spacewalk today to resolve a longstanding problem on the ISS.  As part of that 5-hour and 26-minute spacewalk, Suni Williams surpassed the record for the most time spent in spacewalks by a woman. The previous total of 60 hours and 21 minutes was set by now-former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2017. Whitson still holds the record for the most spacewalks by a woman at 10. 

The extended spacewalk was needed to free the radio frequency group (RFG) a key component of the station's primary command and data antenna assembly, that has been down for nearly two years.  The first attempt to remove the RFG from its mount was in April 2023, when a central latching bolt refused to release. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, who was on that earlier spacewalk, was in Mission Control on Thursday to advise Williams and Wilmore on the renewed attempt.

A second spacewalk in October 2023 was also tasked with trying to retrieve the RFG, but only had enough time to inspect it. Two more attempts in June 2024 were cut short before the EVAs could even get underway due to spacesuit equipment issues.

“There it goes, it’s free,” radioed Williams as the RFG finally came free. “Holy moly!”

The RFG was "good and stuck" as we say.  The two needed to try several different approaches and “a little bit of brute force” to remove the unit, exceeding the three hours that Mission Control had originally allocated for the task. They two spent the rest of their time outside carefully moving the RFG back into the Quest airlock so it can be returned to Earth for refurbishment.

After that main goal was achieved, an interesting little experiment was carried out.  In a prior mission, the Russians had swabbed the outside of their side of the space station but the rest has never been tested. 

Since 2014, cosmonauts have gathered similar samples from the Russian side of the station, which scientists have later claimed included microorganisms capable of surviving in the vacuum of space. This was the first time NASA has conducted its own such study. 

The Russians said that the tests revealed bacteria that were absent during the launch of the ISS module.  "That is, they have come from outer space and settled along the external surface. They are being studied so far, and it seems that they pose no danger."

I think I saw that movie. Or one like it.

As seen from his helmet-mounted camera, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore prepares to swab the outside of the International Space Station to collect potential microbe samples during the spacewalk on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Image credit: NASA)