NASA Extends Sunita Williams' Stay Aboard Space Station

New Delhi: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and and her crewmate Butch Wilmore, who launched to the International Space Station (ISS) last week, are set to extend their stay aboard the orbiting lab for a few more days. Initially planned for a week, the astronauts will return to Earth no earlier than June 18, as announced by NASA. 

Taking to X, NASA said, “NASA and Boeing Space teams set a return date of no earlier than Tuesday, June 18, for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete #Starliner systems checkouts.”

Williams, along with astronaut Barry Wilmore, flew to space on June 5 on Boeing's inaugural crew mission aboard the Starliner spacecraft.

Williams, making her third spaceflight, became the first woman to test a new spacecraft and visited the space station for the first time in 12 years. This mission is also Wilmore's third to the ISS, following his previous journeys in 2009 and 2014.

"Ahead of turning their attention to space station support, the crew worked in partnership with Boeing engineers and flight control teams on the ground to efficiently tick through more flight test objectives and operational capability checkouts of the spacecraft," Boeing said in a statement.

On June 8, the crew successfully completed the safe haven demonstration, confirming that Starliner can serve as a habitat if the space station encounters a debris cloud or other issues.

Williams received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987 and was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998.

The Expedition 71 crew greeted Williams and Willmore aboard the ISS after Starliner docked at approximately 11:04 pm IST on Friday, about 26 hours after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (USA), a statement from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

THE CAPSULE

White with black and blue trim, Boeing's Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can fit up to seven people, though NASA crews typically will number four. The company settled on the name Starliner nearly a decade ago, a twist on the name of Boeing’s early Stratoliner and the current Dreamliner planes.

No one was aboard Boeing’s two previous Starliner test flights. The first, in 2019, was hit with software trouble so severe that its empty capsule couldn’t reach the station until the second try in 2022. Then last summer, weak parachutes and flammable tape cropped up that needed to be fixed or removed. Wednesday's launch was the third try with astronauts; two earlier countdowns were scuttled by rocket-related issues.