Indian-Origin Sunita Williams All Set For Her 3rd Trip to Space. Here's What You Should Know

Washington: After multiple delays, NASA and Boeing's teams have finally given the green light for the agency's Crew Flight Test (CFT) to launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The CFT mission will mark a significant mark for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft as it will carry NASA's astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Indian-origin Sunita Williams, responsible for piloting the newly developed Starliner spacecraft. This will be Williams's third time in the space. Her second voyage was from July 14 to November 18 2012.

This comes after a thorough Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review held at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in the United States, Florida. This review confirmed that all systems, facilities and teams are supporting the test flight indicating that they are ready for a takeoff.

This maiden human test flight will take off on June 1, at around 9:55 pm IST. The trip has been planned for two weeks and will then return to Earth in the southwestern US via parachute and airbag-assisted landing.

What Happened Previously?

The upcoming CFT mission comes after a series of delays including the scrubbed launch attempt earlier this month on May 6 due to a "buzzing" valve aboard the Atlas V rocket and a subsequent helium leak in the Starliner spacecraft.

Just 90 minutes before the lift-off, the launch of the Atlas V rocket was called off due to a technical glitch. NASA announced there was an off-nominal condition on an oxygen relief valve, which led to the postponement.

The space agency had said that if there are any hiccups in the launch, a backup launch opportunity is available on Sunday, June 2, with a few additional launch windows on Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.