Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore still in space, confident of safe return

Sunita Williams said it was a test flight and they hoped to discover something that could be used to improve the next flight. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew on June 5. Their return from space was postponed due to thruster malfunction and helium leak during the trip.

It is not yet decided when they will return home. But before Wilmore and Williams return, ground teams need to do more testing to better understand the root causes of some of the technical problems Starliner has encountered.

‘Confidence of safe return’

“We are very confident,” Wilmore said Wednesday, adding that the two astronauts tested the “safe haven procedure” so they could take shelter inside Starliner in case of an unexpected separation from the ISS. The test went well.

He said everything is fine “as we know it now”. He added that the team is doing “thruster testing”

In the meantime, Williams said, “I have a good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.” He added, “We’ve had a lot of practice! We’re now learning how to adapt to our specific situation and make sure we know everything about it.”

“We’ve gone through a lot of simulations … and I think where we are now … I’m confident that if we had to do that, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we could go into our spacecraft, come out of the dock, talk to our team and figure out the best way to get back,” Williams said.

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‘The ISS is a great place to be’

About his stay on the International Space Station, Wilmore said, “It’s a wonderful place to live, a wonderful place to live and a wonderful place to work.” He also shared details about his first few days on the mission.

“The launch was spectacular, it was really amazing, and then we started testing our operational capabilities, and the spacecraft performed incredibly well,” Wilmore said.

He said that as they headed into the second day, “we lost one RCS jet (reaction control system) and then we lost another one and then you could see the thrust, control and efficiency was impaired…”

“But thankfully, we had practiced and were certified in manual control. We took over manual control for over an hour…the teams on the ground troubleshooted and we got some jets back, and from that point on, you could tell the thrust was reduced – at that point we didn’t know why…but it was still impressive,” Wilmore said.

‘It was a test flight, we expected to find some things’

Meanwhile, Sunita Williams reiterated that this was a test flight and they expected to find some things. “We are fine-tuning it and making some changes and updating with our control teams…” she said, adding that there are suggestions on what can be added for the next flight.

Astronauts also tested Starliner as a “safe haven” vehicle in case of a problem on the station, and checked how its life support equipment performs with four people inside.

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Sunita Williams said there are still a lot of checks left for Starliner, and they all went very well. “One of them was to practice for a safe haven, to make sure we have all the emergency equipment and equipment we need to go into the spacecraft and use it as a safe haven – in case something happens to the space station,” she said.

Williams said tests were done to make sure the spacecraft had the capability to carry four people. “So we’re really satisfied with putting more people on the spacecraft once we come back and work out all the issues we’ve already discovered.”

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Published: July 10, 2024, 11:06 PM IST