Featured Image Credit: NASA
Topics: Space, Technology, Science, US News
Rhianna Benson
After months of waiting for the long-awaited rescue mission of two stranded NASA astronauts and the space exploration firm has today confirmed that the plan has once again been postponed.
After collaborating with Elon Musk's tech compact SpaceX last month, it was reported that NASA would be bringing home Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore on 19 March.
The pair have been trapped inside the International Space Station since June of last year, after a bout of technical faults - including both fuel and helium leaks, and a broken propellant valve - meant their return journey was an impossibility.
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In the months since, NASA vowed on numerous occasions to dispatch another rocket that would see Williams and Wilmore returned to their families on Earth - all of which was subsequently cancelled.
As we say, however, news broke last month (6 Feb) that an official return date had been set by NASA, after the firm opted to partner up with tech boss Musk, with encouragement from his presidential pal, Donald Trump.
The Mail reported at the time that the joint rescue mission meant that Williams and Wilmore were scheduled to be home around March 19 - two weeks earlier than the initial estimated return of early April. This implied that the mission would begin yesterday (12 March).
Unfortunately for the pair, however, SpaceX's rescue has since been cancelled once again.
According to Space.com, the firm had planned to send a four-person crew to relieve Williams and Wilmore from the Space Station before returning home in a Falcon 9 rocket.
The spacecraft was reportedly due to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday, but the attempt was called off due to a hydraulics issue with the transporter-erector.
One of the rescue crew members - Anne McClain - is said to have told launch controllers following the failure: "Great working with you today. Kudos from the whole team. I know it was a lot of work to try to go, but like I said earlier, we'll be ready when the equipment is."
The gut-wrenching new update comes just days after 'Butch's' teenage daughter slammed NASA for not having been able to bring her father home sooner.
In an interview with the Daily Mail last week (6 Mar), Daryn Wilmore told the publication that, though there were a number of aspects of her father's predicament that she's 'not at liberty' to address, there have been 'issues'.
Discussing NASA's ceaselessly cancelled rescue missions, she hit out: "There's been negligence.
"And that's the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There's just been issue after issue after issue."
Adding of her father, Daryn continued: "He's just been bummed, but he's fine. My dad is very resilient."