Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has been stuck in space for almost 85 days. Meanwhile, her mother Boney Pandya said she is not worried about the delay in her daughter's return to earth. In an interview with Andrew Cuomo, host of the American TV network News Nation, Boni said, Sunita is an experienced astronaut. I don't give him any advice. He knows what he has to do. It has been in space for 400 days. Sunita and Butch Wilmore are on the International Space Station (ISS) and they have a lot of work to do there. The NASA team wants to ensure that Sunita's return is completely safe, Boni said. That is why it is taking time. I spoke to him only 2 days ago. He said there was nothing to worry about. Everything is going well. Mother Bonnie wrote a book during her daughter's space journey talking about her experience as an astronaut mother, Bonnie said, I have been an astronaut mother for 20 years. This is Sunita's third space journey. Bonnie also wrote a book called Little Tales, Big Tales during Sunita Williams' space journey in 2022. On the other hand, NASA said that Sunita and Butch have all the facilities in the ISS. There is also an adequate supply of food and oxygen. Recently 2 spacecraft sent 3 tons of cargo along with 8200 pounds of food, fuel and other essential items to ISS. Sunita, stuck in space for 85 days, to return next year NASA said on February 24 that Sunita Williams and Butch will return to Earth by February 2025. NASA has finally admitted that bringing two stranded astronauts to the ISS in Boeing's new Starliner capsule could be dangerous. Both astronauts were sent to the ISS on June 5 by the same spacecraft. NASA said Sunita and Butch Wilmore will return in February aboard Elon Musk's company SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. At the same time, the Starliner capsule will separate from the ISS and attempt to return to autopilot mode in a week or two. NASA official Bill Nelson said, 'Boeing's Starliner will return to Earth without a crew.' Sunita and Wilmore were scheduled to return on June 13, but their return was delayed due to a technical glitch with the spacecraft. Why were Sunita and Wilmore sent to the space station? Sunita and Bush went on a joint 'Crew Flight Test Mission' of Wilmore Boeing and NASA. In this, Sunita was the pilot of the spacecraft. Bush Wilmore, who accompanied him, was the commander of this mission. Both of them were to return to Earth after an 8-day stay in the International Space Station (ISS). At the time of the launch, Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, called it a great start to a new era of space exploration. The main objective of this mission was to prove the spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to and from the space station. The astronauts also had to conduct research and several experiments on the space station in 8 days. Sunita and Wilmore are the first astronauts to be sent to space using an Atlas-V rocket. He also had to fly the spacecraft himself during this mission. A number of flight test related objectives were also to be met. How did Sunita and Wilmore get stuck in space for so long? The Starliner spacecraft had many problems after launch. Due to which many launches failed even before June 5. There were reports of problems with the spacecraft even after launch. NASA said there was a small helium leak in the thruster of the spacecraft's service module. A spacecraft has many thrusters. With their help the spacecraft changes its course and speed. The rocket is pressurized due to the presence of helium gas. Its structure remains strong, which helps the rocket in its flight. 25 days after launch, the spacecraft capsule had 5 helium leaks. 5 thrusters stopped working. Additionally, the propellant valve cannot be completely closed. The crew in space and the mission manager sitting in Houston, America are not able to fix it.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).