Sunita Williams May Return Home? NASA to Decide on Saturday Amid Starliner Issues

Washington: As the fate of astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore hangs in the balance, NASA is weighing its options for their safe return to Earth. The two have been stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for over two months, following technical problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which was originally supposed to bring them home by June 14 after an eight-day mission.

NASA announced that officials will meet this weekend to decide if the Starliner is safe enough to return the astronauts. The decision is expected to be announced on Saturday.

Williams and Wilmore launched aboard the Starliner on June 5, but the mission encountered serious issues, including thruster failures and helium leaks. As a result, NASA kept the capsule docked at the ISS while engineers worked on a solution.

One option being considered is using a SpaceX spacecraft to bring the astronauts back, but this would mean keeping them on the ISS until February. If NASA opts for this route, the Starliner would return to Earth empty in September.

NASA engineers are currently testing a new computer model to evaluate how the Starliner’s thrusters would perform during re-entry. The outcome of these tests will play a key role in NASA’s final decision.

Earlier this month, Boeing stated that extensive testing of the thrusters both in space and on the ground has shown that the Starliner can safely bring the astronauts back. This mission marked Boeing’s first attempt to fly astronauts after years of delays caused by problems with the capsule. Unlike SpaceX, which has been successfully transporting astronauts since 2020, Boeing has faced challenges with its previous unmanned test flights.