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On the issue of Sunita Williams' return to Earth, an official of the US space agency said that one of the options considered by NASA is to bring both of them back from space by February 2025. In fact, if this option is implemented, both of them can be brought back by Elon Musk's SpaceX instead of using NASA's Starliner.
The return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from space is awaited, but the information given by NASA has given a big shock. Both of them went on a 13-day space mission on June 5 aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, but did not return even after 2 months.
NASA is considering options other than Starliner to bring both astronauts back from the International Space Station. Therefore, the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will have to wait for a few more months.
What did NASA say about the return plan?
NASA said late last night that it has considered all options to bring astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back from space. Speaking to the media, an official of the US space agency said that one of the options NASA has considered is to bring the two back from space by February 2025. Instead of using NASA's Starliner, Elon Musk's SpaceX can bring them back.
Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said that NASA's first option is to bring Butch and Sunita back via Starliner. But if this is not possible then we have many other options as well. Steve Stich has said that NASA is working with SpaceX to send Crew 9 on a space mission, so we are trying to add Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to Crew 9 if needed.
Will Sunita Williams return in 2025?
Referring to Crew 9, a NASA official has revealed what strategy NASA has for bringing both astronauts back to Earth. He said that their special objective is to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by 2025. Steve Stich has said that for Crew 9 we will send only two astronauts from here, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will work on the space station as part of Crew 9 and then all four astronauts will return by February 2025. However, he said that NASA has not yet approved this plan, it is just being considered.
NASA on Tuesday said it is waiting on the SpaceX Crew 9 mission. The mission was scheduled to launch this month but has now been postponed to September 25. The Crew 9 mission will send 4 astronauts to the International Space Station. The mission will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
Williams-Wilmore has been in space for 2 months
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore reached space on June 5 aboard Boeing's Starliner aircraft, both were scheduled to return to Earth on June 13, but this was not possible due to a technical fault in the Starliner. Although NASA officials and engineers are trying to fix this problem, even after 2 months, no date has been fixed for the return of Sunita and Butch.
Being in space for a long time is dangerous
While NASA delayed the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by 90 days, it said that both astronauts had enough rations. So they will not have any problem of food and drink in space, both of them will be able to stay on the space station for a long time.
But many challenges have to be faced in space. There is a high risk of radiation in space, which harms the body of astronauts. Due to lack of gravity in space, there is swelling on the face and water deficiency in the lower part of the body. Apart from this, spending more days in space also causes lack of blood in the body.
In such a situation, it remains to be seen whether NASA will actually approve the plan to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by February? Or it will remove all the technical shortcomings of the Starliner and pave the way for the early return of both of them.