NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore await their return from space as officials race against time to find the cause of anomalies detected on Boeing’s Starliner during launch. As NASA continues to explore safe options to bring the two astronauts back to Earth, can the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) offer any assistance in the situation?
ISRO chief S Somanath He said, “At this time we cannot do anything as direct help because We don’t have a ship that can go there and save her..”
In a podcast with BeerBiceps, Somanath said that only the United States and Russia can help bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.
“The only possibilities are Russia or the US. The US has the Crew Dragon spacecraft that can travel and Russia has the Soyuz that could bring them. Either of them can only save them,” the ISRO chief said.
He also mentioned that he does not believe there is a serious problem at this time with the Starliner and the two astronauts in space.
“The Boeing Starliner showed some anomalies and [it appears to me that] they [NASA] “We don’t want to take any risks… because it has shown some problems in the past, even before launch,” he said.
Somanath said the launches had been postponed many times and NASA finally took the risk and launched the mission, “but they don’t want to take the risk of launching it again,” he added.
Somanath said NASA could use the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for return mission.
Sunita Williams in space: a brief summary
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore became the first astronauts to fly aboard Boeing’s Starliner crewed test mission. They took off aboard Boeing’s Starliner on June 5.
Even before Wilmore and Williams lifted off on June 5, their capsule developed a leak in propulsion-related plumbing. Boeing and NASA deemed the small helium leak stable and isolated, and proceeded with the test flight.
But the next day, as Starliner approached the space station, four more leaks developed and five thrusters also failed.
SpaceX could recover astronauts, But that would keep them there until February 2025.. They were He is supposed to return after about a week at the station.
After two Starliner astronauts completed more than two months in space, NASA said Thursday it will decide on Aug. 24 whether Boeing’s new capsule is safe enough to return two astronauts from the International Space Station, where they have been waiting since June.
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