Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is safe and is helping with research and maintenance of the International Space Station, the US space agency NASA said. Her return to Earth was delayed after concerns arose over the safety of the crew aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft bound for the space station on June 5. She will discuss the crew’s mission in a live address from the space station on July 10 at 8.30 pm.
Ms Williams and her crewmate Butch Wilmore have already spent more than a month aboard the space station, a trip originally scheduled to last 10 days because of technical glitches aboard the Boeing Starliner.
Currently, the ISS is hosting nine crew members, who are continuing their planned activities, NASA said. Over the past four weeks on the ISS, Ms Williams has helped disassemble and empty racks for future missions and also assessed air flow in filters. His crew member, Mr Wilmore, on July 2 joined another NASA astronaut, Tracy Dyson, in loading trash and discarded equipment inside the Cygnus spacecraft, NASA said. The Northrop Grumman-built Cygnus is scheduled to be released from the ISS’s Unity module for disposal over the South Pacific Ocean later this month, ending its five-and-a-half-month stay on the orbiting lab. The same day, the crew also checked out the cool Boeing Starliner awaiting return to Earth.
The work of the crew on the ISS, which looks like a small football field-sized city in space, is very important. Weighing 419 tons and costing more than $150 billion, the space station has been hosting astronauts since 2000. The crew there sees 16 sunrises per day in its orbit, making the maintenance of the space station a vital and challenging task.
Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore arrived at the ISS on June 6 on their first crew mission aboard the Boeing Starliner. They were supposed to return on June 14, but due to some technical glitches in the spacecraft, the return journey was postponed to June 26. NASA has not given any new date for not returning on June 26 either.
The space agency and Boeing announced the delay in a statement, saying, “NASA and Boeing leadership are adjusting the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft’s return to Earth from the International Space Station with agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board. The move on Wednesday, June 26, will preempt Starliner’s undocking and landing from a series of planned International Space Station spacewalks while giving mission teams time to review propulsion system data.”
The delay is attributed to five helium leaks in Starliner and technical problems with five of its 28 thrusters. Experts say at least 14 thrusters are needed for a safe return.
Although Ms. Williams’ visit to the ISS has been extended indefinitely, NASA says the crew is not short on time to leave the station, as there are ample supplies on orbit, and the station’s schedule remains relatively open until mid-August.
However, Boeing is facing criticism for unexpected technical glitches that hindered the first {test} mission of its spacecraft. According to some experts, the same problems that Boeing Company has in its aviation business may also haunt its space business. Recently, Boeing CEO David Calhoun was questioned by US senators about the aviation giant’s safety culture and transparency during his first appearance before the US Congress.
