United States | Stuck in low-Earth orbit

NASA insists that two astronauts are not “stranded” in space

The Starliner mishap is another embarrassment for Boeing

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft
A weightless waitPhotograph: Getty Images
|New York

What a treat to glimpse the cosmos up close. Which is not to deny the inconveniences of space travel. There are bodily troubles. “The toilet—I literally sit on it like a witch on a broom,” wrote Valentin Lebedev, a cosmonaut, in his diary. “It won’t forgive your mistakes.” Suffice to say that relieving oneself in zero gravity involves leg restraints, gloves, disinfectant and a device like a vacuum cleaner.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Misadventures in low-Earth orbit”

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