The return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who traveled from Earth to NASA’s space station, has still not reached anywhere. It is reported that both of them have to be stuck without reaching Earth due to the continuing problems related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. It means that the journey of both of them back to earth has been uncertain for more than a month.
Thruster malfunctions and helium leaks in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft caused the delay. Originally scheduled to return in mid-June, the journey was postponed several times due to technical issues. Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said that complications with the spacecraft are being worked out and a new return date has not been set. Stich also indicated that alternative plans are being reviewed. Engineers in New Mexico completed tests on the spare thruster to determine the problems that occurred during docking. Five thrusters were damaged when the spacecraft approached the space station on June 6.
After that the 4 thrusters were restarted. Mark Nappi, Boeing Commercial Crew Program Manager, said the spacecraft plans to test the thrusters when it docks with the space station this week to collect more data. After a 24-hour long journey, both of them reached the station safely. The duration of this mission was fixed for only one week. But due to technical problems in the probe, both of them are unable to return.
This is the first manned mission of a Boeing-built spacecraft. The probe, which was launched on June 5, suffered helium leaks and malfunctioned thrusters several times during its journey to the station. Investigations and investigations related to this are going on. Meanwhile, the date for the return of the mission team has not been announced..Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore of Indian origin reached space on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft on the 5th of this last month.
Then, their return journey which was to be on June 13 was changed to Wednesday, June 26. But according to the information coming out now, the return will be delayed due to technical problems in the spacecraft. With this, the launch of the Boeing Starliner carrying humans into space is heading for failure. Meanwhile, Sunita Williams and Wilmore, who are in the space station, are safe. But there are reports that a reentry attempt on the Starliner probe could endanger both their lives.
At the same time, the science world says what happened, the Boeing Starliner spacecraft carrying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore was launched on June 5. This is the first manned mission of a Boeing-built spacecraft.
The goal is to test how capable the Starliner spacecraft is for future launch missions. The spacecraft was able to successfully dock with the station and reach the station, but encountered technical problems throughout the journey, including a helium leak. The original mission was only nine days long. Both were supposed to return to Earth on June 13. Helium leaks and problems with the thrusters delayed the return and the travelers had to spend several days on the station. June 26 is the last date to return. But it didn’t happen. A new date has not been announced yet.
Normally, the Starliner probe can stay on the station for 45 days. It can also be extended up to 72 days with backup systems. But it is not clear whether the spacecraft used for the test mission is capable of doing so. Fuel leakage is a big challenge. NASA and the Boeing team are working to solve the problem. These issues can be resolved only after detailed investigations. NASA officials say it is too late to collect and verify information related to the problems.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the only rescue. If the Starliner probe is not safe enough to return Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth, there are reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX crew may use the Dragon probe to return them. For Boeing, that’s a huge setback. For this reason, there may not be a quick decision regarding SpaceX. Boeing officials maintain that the current problems with the Starliner spacecraft are solvable and that SpaceX should not be considered. However, Sunita Williams and Wilmore will remain in orbit until the Starliner probe issues are resolved. We will know in the coming days if the problem can be solved.
At the same time, NASA is being criticized for the incident in which Sunita Williams was trapped in the space station due to a malfunction in the Starliner spacecraft that was brought to the International Space Station. There has also been a controversy that the authorities were aware of the technical faults in advance. But the controversy is that it was ignored saying that there was no major problem. Along with NASA, Boeing, the Starliner manufacturing company, has also been under the shadow of controversy. But NASA and Boeing have not responded to this controversy.
Sunita and her companion Butch Wilmore reached space on the 5th of this month. Their journey, which was to return on the 13th, was postponed to the 26th. This also did not happen. 58-year-old Sunitha has reached the space station for the third time. This was the maiden voyage of the Boeing Starliner. The Boeing mission went through many difficulties. The mission was postponed twice due to technical problems. A helium gas leak in the Boeing Starliner probe made the mission difficult in the final stages. Helium gas leaks occurred in the spacecraft 5 times. Some of the 28 thrusters are faulty. 14 thrusters are required to recover. It can stay connected to the International Space Station for 45 days. In rare cases it can be extended up to 72 days. In the meantime, NASA hopes to fix the problem and return the spacecraft.
Sunita Williams, who studied at the US Naval Academy, was selected for NASA space travel in 1998. Sunita, who reached the space station in 2006 and 2012, holds the distinction of being the second woman to walk in space for the longest time (50 hours and 40 minutes).NASA’s Francisco Rubio was previously stranded in the space station. He left in September 2022 and returned on September 27, 2023 due to a malfunction in the Soyuz spacecraft he was traveling in. He spent 371 days in the station.
