Sunita Williams, who went to NASA’s International Space Station on June 6, is stuck there.The Boeing space capsule in which she went to the ISS has developed a malfunction.Sunita’s return had to be postponed for the third time, now NASA can take help from Musk’s SpaceX.
Sunita Williams, who went to NASA’s International Space Station (ISS), is stuck there. It may take some more time for her to return to Earth. She had gone to the space station with American astronaut Butch Wilmore on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. However, NASA has had to postpone their return plan for the third time. This has increased the concern that Indian-origin Sunita and Butch may get ‘stuck’ there.
Actually, this mission of Boeing was facing difficulties in the beginning and its flight had to be postponed many times. Finally, on June 6, 2024, it was able to reach the International Space Station (ISS). However, now another obstacle has come in its journey.
Boeing cheated on its space capsule
On the other hand, Boeing said in a statement that there were some technical problems in the space capsule like thruster failure and leaking valve and to fix this, the return of Williams and Buch had to be postponed.
The memory of Kalpana Chawla increased the shudder
These obstacles in Sunita Williams’ space journey have increased the trepidation. Many people are reminding her of another astronaut of Indian origin, Kalpana Chawla, who had similarly met with an accident while returning from the ISS and died.
Read this also- America finally bowed down to Julian Assange, a deal got him released, Wikileaks chief freed after 12 years
NASA is also aware of this danger and that is why it does not want to take any risk. Initially, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were to stay on the ISS for nine days and return to Earth by June 15. However, NASA extended their return date thrice and now it is not clear when these two astronauts will be able to return.
NASA can take help from Musk
At the same time, British tabloid Daily Mail quoted experts and said that NASA may be forced to send a new rocket to bring back those two astronauts. Along with this, they expressed hope that the help of Elon Musk’s SpaceX can be taken to complete this mission.
According to the newspaper, Katsuo Kurabayashi, professor of aerospace engineering at New York University, said, ‘Given the current condition of the Starliner, it is possible that NASA may decide to use a spacecraft like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to bring the astronauts home safely.’
Along with this, he dismissed the concerns being raised about the safety of Sunita Williams and Butch, saying, ‘As far as I can tell at this time, postponing the mission till July should not raise any serious concerns. On the other hand, NASA has also expressed hope that both the astronauts will be able to be brought back to Earth before the beginning of July.
Tags: Elon Musk, International news, Nasa study
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 25, 2024, 09:01 IST