NASA Needs SpaceX To Save Astronauts They Stranded In Space
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for eight weeks, far exceeding their expected eight-day mission. They were supposed to return on June 14, but technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft are preventing their return. The thrusters may be leaking helium, and NASA has not yet secured a new launch date for the Starliner.
While the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is currently docked at the ISS and could potentially bring the astronauts home, NASA has not requested SpaceX’s assistance, and there’s no timeline for their rescue. This situation has drawn criticism toward both NASA and Boeing, raising concerns about their competence and reliance on government funding, as NASA received over $34 billion and Boeing $6.7 billion this year.
The article implies that political factors may be preventing NASA from acknowledging its need for help, as doing so could damage the agency’s reputation during an election year. As the astronauts await their return, their physical health and safety are at risk, while the public continues to question the efficacy of governmental and aerospace institutions.
Much like the character Major Tom in David Bowie’s classic hit “Space Oddity,” two NASA astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, are currently “sitting in a tin can, far above the world” with little hope of landing back on Earth anytime soon.
Their eight-day job on the International Space Station has now become eight weeks and counting. The Boeing space shuttle Starliner which brought them to station keeps experiencing technical issues (apparently the thrusters might be leaking helium), preventing it from bringing Butch and Suni back home.
The duo was supposed to return on June 14, but as of the time of this writing, NASA is still not ready to launch Starliner back into space to retrieve them. NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stitch reportedly admitted: “We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.”
It just so happens that there is a spacecraft already docked at the ISS which could bring them home: the SpaceX Dragon. According to Eric Berger at Ars Technica:
SpaceX has been actively working on a scenario in which two or four astronauts launch on board Crew 9. (A normal crew is four) This mission has a nominal launch date of August 18, but it could well be delayed. SpaceX has already identified flight suits that would fit Wilmore and Williams, allowing them to fly home on the Crew-8 spacecraft (presently docked to the space station) or the Crew-9 vehicle. It is unclear how crews would be assigned to the two Dragon return flights. It is possible, if four astronauts launch on Crew 9, that five people could fly home on each of the two Dragons.
Assuming that Starliner continues to malfunction for the foreseeable future, NASA may be forced to ask for help from SpaceX.
But for the time being, no one at NASA has actually asked for help from SpaceX, nor does there seem to be any timetable for rescuing Butch and Suni. The most that has happened thus far has been NASA and Boeing testing thrusters in New Mexico and making excuses. Otherwise, the story has not received much attention from corporate media, and there seems to be little pressure put on NASA to work faster.
Of course, it’s not difficult to guess why this is. The whole situation is a complete and utter embarrassment. Not only does the once revered organization NASA look hopelessly incompetent, but so does the once great American aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Both institutions are notorious for touting their commitment to DEI hiring policies. Moreover, the federal government continues to lavish them with billions of tax dollars: NASA received over $34 billion this year alone, while Boeing was paid $6.7 billion for building Starliner. Meanwhile, SpaceX has made several functional rockets for a little more than $3.1 billion.
It seems apparent that NASA needs to enlist the help of SpaceX to bring back Butch and Suni, but this would be admitting failure at every level. Elon Musk would brag about it on X, Donald Trump would point and laugh at NASA fangirl Kamala Harris, who supports and embodies this kind of mediocrity, and more Americans would lose any remaining respect for NASA — all during an election year, no less. Thus, for political reasons, poor Butch and Suni will remain in space for way longer than was planned.
This is a tremendous shame both for the stranded astronauts as well as the American people. While Butch and Suni waste away in zero-gravity feeling their bones hollow out and their muscles deteriorate, the population at large also wastes away as their morally and financially bankrupt government continues to pay its bloated departments and corporate cronies to keep failing. All the while, dynamic companies like SpaceX that actually get the job done are aggressively held back and ignored because they make everyone else look bad and its founder Elon Musk now supports Donald Trump.
Imagine how different things would be if the government spent less money and actually held private contractors responsible for their work. Such a system would easily bring back meritocracy, competition, and a culture of innovation. Even better, it would take away power and wealth from today’s unaccountable elites (i.e. the people who own massive companies like Boeing and have a small army of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. advocating on their behalf) and redistribute that power and wealth to smart, hardworking Americans who actually produce something valuable.
Unfortunately, this is the very system that today’s Democrats and their supporters are fighting to keep at all costs. Even if it makes the majority of Americans poorer, lonelier, sadder, less safe, and less free, it helps a certain influential class of Americans stay in power. Hopefully, more people wake up to this corruption, call it out, and push to eliminate it so that America, its space program, and its astronauts can finally be saved.
Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher in the Dallas area. He holds an MA in humanities and an MEd in educational leadership. He is the senior editor of The Everyman , a senior contributor to The Federalist, and has written for essays for The American Mind, The American Conservative, Religion and Liberty, Crisis Magazine, and elsewhere. Follow him on X.
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