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The much-anticipated manned Boeing Starliner space mission ended on Friday when the spacecraft parachuted to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The spacecraft returned to Earth empty months after it carried astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore into space in June this year.
Both test pilots are still in space and are unlikely to return this year. Williams and Wilmore will remain at the ISS for the next few months until SpaceX’s Dragon reaches the International Space Station. Here is a complete breakdown of what will happen to Sunita Williams after the Boeing Starliner returns.
Why did the Boeing Starliner take off without Sunita Williams?
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were scheduled to fly the Starliner back to Earth by mid-June. But the first astronaut trip on the Boeing Starliner faced significant hurdles in the form of repeated helium leaks and other technical malfunctions in the capsule in space. Amid speculation about the safety of the two astronauts on their return space flight, NASA decided it was too risky for them to return on the Starliner.
What will happen to Sunita Williams now?
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will have to wait in space for a few more months before they return to Earth on SpaceX’s Dragon owned by Elon Musk. After declaring the return of two astronauts on Boeing Starliner “too risky”, NASA confirmed that Suni and Butch will return to Earth with SpaceX Dragon. The SpaceX ride will launch at the end of the month and will remain in space until February.
Earlier, the Dragon spaceflight was scheduled to carry four astronauts. However, the number has been halved to include Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on the return flight. A few weeks ago, NASA announced the names of astronauts for its SpaceX Crew-9 mission ahead of its launch in September 2024.
Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov have been announced as the commander and mission specialist of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, who were previously scheduled to fly to space, have been reassigned to future missions.
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