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Sunita Williams and her colleague Barry Wilmore were initially slated to spend eight days at ISS, but technical issues in their Starliner spacecraft forced an extended stay in space.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore and others at the International Space Station. (Reuters)
Indian-origin American astronaut Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore have been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) for over six months after Boeing’s faulty Starliner returned to Earth. Their rescue mission has now hit another snag as the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) announced another delay in their return flight.
Williams was initially part of a mission that was supposed to last only eight days, but tec
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cal issues with their spacecraft forced them to an extended stay at the ISS. During the approach to the ISS, five of the 28 thrusters of the Starliner spacecraft failed, delaying their return till February 2025.
Williams and Wilmore were set to return to the Earth on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon capsule, which was scheduled to arrive in February 2025. However, NASA said on Tuesday that Crew-10, which would relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no earlier than March 2025, and both teams would remain on board for a “handover period”.
“The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission,” NASA said in a blog post. This means that Williams and Wilmore would spend close to ten months in space, rather than the eight days as initially planned.
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Why The Delay?
“Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavour that requires great attention to detail,” said NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme Manager Steve Stich. “We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight.”
According to NASA, the team determined that launching Crew-10 in late March, following completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, was the best option for meeting NASA’s requirements and achieving space station objectives for 2025.
Meanwhile, concerns have increased over Sunita Williams’ health due to her prolonged stay in space. Images released earlier this year showed a drastic weight loss that took the internet by surprise. Notably, astronauts have to eat twice as many calories as the people on Earth due to changes in their metabolisms in space.
ALSO READ: How Is Sunita Williams Surviving In Space? What Does Spaceflight Do To A Human Body? Explained
However, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate spokesperson Jimi Russell had then assured that all astronauts currently stationed on the ISS are in “good health” and are undergoing “routine medical evaluations”.
The Indian-origin astronaut was last seen preparing for Christmas in space after a festive photo of her with colleague Don Pettit donning Santa hats was shared. “Another day, another sleigh. NASA Astronauts Don Pettit and Suni Williams pose for a fun holiday season portrait while speaking on a ham radio inside the ISS’s Columbus laboratory module,” NASA’s Johnson Space Center shared on X Monday.
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