2024-07-11 23:59:10
Cape Canaveral: US space agency NASA said that Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is safe. Sunita Williams reached the International Space Station on June 5 aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Her mission was only for 10 days, but she has been stuck on the International Space Station with her fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore for the last one month. Now NASA has told that Sunita Williams is in good health and is safe. NASA also said that Sunita Williams will continue to help in research and maintenance of the International Space Station. She will discuss the crew’s mission in a live address from the space station on July 10 at 8.30 pm.
Nine astronauts present on the ISS
Sunita Williams and her partner Butch Wilmore have already spent more than a month in the space station, stuck due to several technical glitches on the Boeing Starliner. Currently, the International Space Station is hosting nine crew members, who are continuing their planned activities, NASA said.
What work is Sunita Williams doing on the ISS
Over the past four weeks on the ISS, Williams has helped disassemble and empty racks for future missions and also assessed air flow in filters. Her partner, Wilmore, joined another NASA astronaut, Tracy Dyson, on July 2 to load trash and discarded equipment inside the Cygnus spacecraft, NASA reported.
When will Boeing Starliner be tested?
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 aboard the orbiting lab. On the same day, the crew is also scheduled to check out a Boeing Starliner awaiting return to Earth.
Why is the ISS so important?
The work of the crew on the ISS, which looks like a small football field-sized city in space, is very important. The space station weighs 419 tons and cost more than $150 billion. It has been hosting astronauts since the year 2000. The crew there sees 16 sunrises per day in its orbit, making the maintenance of the space station a vital and challenging task.