2024-07-12 10:01:24
Washington: Indian-origin American astronaut Sunita Williams has been stuck in the International Space Station for the last one month with a fellow astronaut. Williams reached the International Space Station on June 5 along with her fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Their mission was only for 10 days, but their return has not been possible yet. Now NASA has said that no fixed departure date has been fixed yet for Sunita Williams’ return to Earth. Her return was originally scheduled for June 14, but it has already been postponed twice.
Sunita Williams’s spaceship malfunctioned
Captain Sunita Williams and mission commander Butch Wilmore were stranded in space because their spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner, stopped working during their ascent, which revealed a thruster malfunction and a helium leak. In the astronauts’ first press conference after being stranded on the International Space Station on Wednesday, July 10, Captain Williams said he was confident that the Starliner could safely return them to solid ground.
Williams is confident that he will return safely
Williams said: “I have a very good feeling in my heart that this spacecraft will get us back home, no problem.” Commander Wilmore was also confident they would return safely to Earth, although he did not give a timeframe. He added: “That mantra you hear is, ‘failure is not an option’, so we’re staying here for now. “We’re confident that the tests we’re doing are what we need to do to get the right answers, to give us the data we need to come back.”
There is no time limit for return
The pair will remain in space while engineers on Earth perform diagnostic tests and potentially modify Starliner’s return trip home. Officials say Williams and Wilmore could return home as early as late July. Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program director, said the aim was to get the two out of the ISS before Boeing’s competitor SpaceX launches a new crew to the station in mid-August.