Washington [US], Indian-origin astronaut Captain Sunita Williams and her fellow veteran NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore are set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday aboard a new spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner. The pair will launch into space. Starliner's first crewed test flight at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. If successful, this flight would become the second private company to provide CRE transportation to and from the ISS. The launch is scheduled to take place at 10:34 pm.EDT on Monday, May 6, i.e. at 8.04 am Indian Standard Time, Boeing's competitor Elon Musk's SpaceX was able to fly its crew flight test in the year 2020. It has sent 12 crewed missions to the ISS since 2020. After a failed attempt in December 2019, Starliner made a successful second uncrewed test flight in May 2022. Williams, 59, a retired U.S. Navy captain, and Wilmore will pilot the flight, which Boeing is calling its Crew Flight Test (CFT) and It will be docked with the ISS for about a year. Week. Starliner's flight to the ISS is expected to last approximately 26 hours, and both astronauts will live and work on the ISS for 8 days before docking and returning to Earth on May 15.During the test flight, the astronaut pair will carry the Starliner. A series of tests before NASA certifies it as fit to fly in space, a mission to the ISS under the U.S. space agency's Commercial Crew Program, unlike previous U.S. capsules that fell into the ocean upon returning to Earth Were, the Starliner will land. A site somewhere in the western part of the United States, NASA said the two astronauts will depart for the International Space Station on United Launch Alliance's Atlas rocket.
Both Williams and Wilmore were former commanders of the International Space Station. Williams, of Needham, Massachusetts, earned a physics degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology.According to NASA, their first spaceflight was Expedition 14/15 (December 2006 to June 2007), which launched on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-11 mission to reach the International Station. While aboard, Williams set a world record for women at the time with four spacewalks. , He ended his tour of duty on June 22, 2007, returning to Earth with shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 flight and landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, Williams has spent a total of 32 days there. Accumulating 50 hours and 40 minutes of cumulative EVA time in space on two missions and on seven spacewalks, Williams worked with Roscosmos on his contributions to the space station and served with the first expedition crew.Meanwhile, Wilmore, 61, has logged 178 days in space and 25 hours and 36 minutes of time on four spacewalks. Boeing plans six manned missions for the platform over the next six years, the estimated operational lifetime of the ISS. End NASA plans to use both SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner to send astronauts. At least every six months from US soil. Both Boeing and SpaceX were given responsibility for sending commercial crew missions to the ISS by NASA in 2014, with Boeing receiving over US$4 billion in US federal funds to develop Starliner, while SpaceX received approximately US$2.6 billion. . Meanwhile, India has its own human spaceflight program. Gaganyaan was led by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).It envisages demonstrating human space flight capability by launching a crew of 3 members into a 400 km orbit for a 3-day mission and landing in Indian waters and returning them safely to Earth, in February this year. Earlier in the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the names of the four astronauts who will be part of the Gaganyaan to be launched in 2024-25. The four Indian Air Force pilots selected were Group Captain Prashant Nair, Gru Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhaansh Shukla. Trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
Both Williams and Wilmore were former commanders of the International Space Station. Williams, of Needham, Massachusetts, earned a physics degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology.According to NASA, their first spaceflight was Expedition 14/15 (December 2006 to June 2007), which launched on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-11 mission to reach the International Station. While aboard, Williams set a world record for women at the time with four spacewalks. , He ended his tour of duty on June 22, 2007, returning to Earth with shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 flight and landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, Williams has spent a total of 32 days there. Accumulating 50 hours and 40 minutes of cumulative EVA time in space on two missions and on seven spacewalks, Williams worked with Roscosmos on his contributions to the space station and served with the first expedition crew.Meanwhile, Wilmore, 61, has logged 178 days in space and 25 hours and 36 minutes of time on four spacewalks. Boeing plans six manned missions for the platform over the next six years, the estimated operational lifetime of the ISS. End NASA plans to use both SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner to send astronauts. At least every six months from US soil. Both Boeing and SpaceX were given responsibility for sending commercial crew missions to the ISS by NASA in 2014, with Boeing receiving over US$4 billion in US federal funds to develop Starliner, while SpaceX received approximately US$2.6 billion. . Meanwhile, India has its own human spaceflight program. Gaganyaan was led by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).It envisages demonstrating human space flight capability by launching a crew of 3 members into a 400 km orbit for a 3-day mission and landing in Indian waters and returning them safely to Earth, in February this year. Earlier in the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the names of the four astronauts who will be part of the Gaganyaan to be launched in 2024-25. The four Indian Air Force pilots selected were Group Captain Prashant Nair, Gru Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhaansh Shukla. Trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
