Writing history, Sunita Williams takes a Boeing Starliner into orbit.
Writing history, Sunita Williams takes a Boeing Starliner into orbit.
Indian-born astronaut Sunita Williams made history by being the first woman to test a spacecraft during its maiden flight. It should be mentioned that throughout the preceding ten years, she had contributed to the spacecraft’s design. Ms. Williams flew across India on her way into space.
She launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at Florida’s Space Launch Complex-41 at 8:22 p.m. (IST) on an Atlas 5 rocket. This is her third space expedition.
The third attempt resulted in a nominal lift-off. After reaching the correct orbit, the Starliner will dock with the International Space Station one day later. The three crewed spacecraft that the US currently possesses are the International Space Station, SpaceX Crew Dragon, and Boeing Starliner.
Assuming all goes as planned, Ms. Williams and her fellow passenger Butch Wilmore will stay for about a week to test the spacecraft and its subsystems before NASA works to complete the transportation system’s final certification for rotational missions to the orbiting laboratory as part of its Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner is scheduled to dock to the Harmony module of the station’s forward-facing port.
According to NASA, the Starliner is the most sophisticated crew module ever to fly, and it was made by astronauts for astronauts.
In a brand-new spacecraft, Williams, a poster child for female space enthusiasts, ascended to the stars.
The Indian-born astronaut had been in space for 322 days, setting a record for the longest hours a woman had spent on a spacewalk before Peggy Whitson overtook her.
This time, she makes history by being the first female pilot on a crewed flight of a recently created space shuttle.
The 59-year-old admitted to being a little nervous, but she maintained that her anxiety had nothing to do with launching a brand-new spaceship that she and NASA scientists co-designed.
This nearly ten-day journey will help prove that the Starliner is spaceworthy. It would also show that the group is ready to become certified by NASA and carry out long-duration missions for the US space agency.
Given that the Starliner project is severely over budget and much behind time, some worry that Boeing’s space business may be impacted by the problems plaguing its aviation division.
There is still no successful human space flight ten years after NASA won a $4.2 billion contract to develop it from the ground up in 2014. However, Space X, which was awarded a similar contract to build Crew Dragon, finished the project at an anticipated cost of $2.6 billion. The SpaceX crew module is already in use by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).
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