Sunita Williams, NASA Astronaut, Prepares for Long-Awaited Return
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are expected to return to Earth on March 19. They have remained in orbit for nearly ten months due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner. After months of delays due to spaceship failures, Wilmore admits that the return is earlier than expected and that the transition is challenging.
What is the New Date of Return?
The revised date is March 12, 2025, explained NASA.
The mission was originally expected to return in mid-June 2024, but following the most recent postponement in December, it was scheduled for April 2025.
Dreaming whilst in space
Sunita Williams, meanwhile, talked about her space dreaming experience. After her first space flight, Sunita Williams explained her neurologist father had also asked her, “Do you dream that you are in space or do you dream that you are on Earth,”
“I do dream that I am up here at times when I am here and I do dream that I am home as well. I think it’s based on your experience…so a little of both…when I was home last time, I actually dream that I was in space a couple of times, that’s pretty unique and special,” Sunita Williams explained.
The Unexpected ISS Mission Extension of Williams and Wilmore
In June 2024, Wilmore and Williams, 59, boarded Boeing’s Starliner for what was supposed to be an eight-day journey to the ISS. However, the Starliner proved unsafe for their return due to technical problems like thruster failures and helium leakage.
NASA intends to return them to Earth in late March on a spacecraft constructed by SpaceX, a Boeing competitor. The astronauts have persisted in their work on the ISS in spite of these obstacles while they await a safe return trip.
Sunita Williams: Breaking Boundaries and Records in Space
Williams completed 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalking during her time aboard the ISS, breaking the record for the longest spacewalk by a female. The spacewalk was led by Butch Wilmore and Williams. In order to remove damaged radio communications equipment and gather samples that could reveal whether microbes are present outside the orbiting laboratory, the two went outside the ISS.
Williams became the first person to complete a triathlon in space in 2012 while visiting the International Space Station. She used a weightlifting machine to imitate swimming and a treadmill while wearing a harness to prevent her from floating away.
