Astronauts Sunita Williams : Sunita Williams, an Indian-origin astronaut, and Butch Wilmore, a fellow NASA employee, launched on June 5 on Boeing’s Starliner and will remain in orbit until February 2025.
Astronauts Sunita Williams : Sunita Williams, an astronaut of Indian descent who is currently stationed on the International Space Station (ISS), declared today that it is her “happy place” and that she “loves” spending time there. On June 5, Ms. Williams and her fellow NASA employee Butch Wilmore departed on the Boeing Starliner for what was originally intended to be an eight-day crewed mission. However, because the Starliner encountered multiple technical difficulties and returned to Earth without them last week, their stay has been extended to eight months.
Sunita Williams commented, “That’s how things go in this business,” during a press conference that was conducted via video.
Given that both astronauts had spent time on the station before, Ms. Williams claimed that the adjustment to station life was “not that hard”.
Astronauts Sunita Williams : This is where I feel content. The seasoned space traveler declared, “I love being up here in space.”
“We wanted to take Starliner to the completion and land back on land at home, but you know, you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity,” she said.
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur, owns SpaceX, and Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore are expected to return in February on the Crew-9 voyage.
Astronauts Sunita Williams : Ms. Williams admitted that she was a little anxious that she wouldn’t be going home right away.
“I know that people on the ground, including my family and my mother, have plans and are thinking about them in the back of my mind. And I believe that’s what was worrying me the most. similar to the plans we had made for this autumn or winter, but everyone was on board, which helped to get us ready,” the woman remarked.
Mr. Wilmore acknowledged that there were “disagreements” on how to manage the return but said he was “absolutely not” disappointed by the decision to stay in space.
At the press conference, he stated, “I think we could have reached a point where we could have gone back on Starliner, but we just ran out of time.”
“In this case, we found some things that we just could not get comfortable with putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options,” he stated.
Butch Willmore and Sunita Williams To Cast a Space Vote in the US Elections
The two astronauts expressed excitement about voting from the International Space Station in the US presidential election of 2024.
According to Butch Willmore, he submitted his ballot request today.
“It is a very important role that we all play as American citizens,” he stated. “NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.”
Additionally, Sunita Williams stated that it is a “very important duty”.
“Looking forward to vote from space, which is pretty cool,” she stated.
On November 5, the US will have elections in which Democratic candidate Kamala Harris will face off against Republican opponent Donald Trump.
The Starliner Setbacks for Boeing
Following years of delays, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, two former military test pilots, were ultimately launched to the International Space Station on June 5 aboard Boeing’s Starliner. But a day later, as Starliner got closer to the International Space Station, NASA and Boeing discovered helium leaks and had problems with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters.
Helium, which is required to pressurize the thrusters, leaked multiple times as a result of five of Starliner’s 28 thrusters failing while the aircraft was in flight. It was still able to dock with the space station, where astronauts have been living in rotating crews for more than 20 years.
However, NASA opted to move the two passengers to a SpaceX mission and return the Starliner empty because they were afraid the capsule wouldn’t be able to generate the thrust required to return to Earth.
