ASTRONAUT’S RETURN DELAYED AFTER SPACECRAFT ISSUE
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams faced an unplanned extension of her mission aboard the International Space Station after the spacecraft scheduled to bring her home experienced a technical problem.
Williams has been stationed on the ISS conducting research since late September. She was set to return to Earth this week on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. However, the Starliner’s launch was scrapped due to an issue discovered during pre-flight checkouts. Engineers found that the service module propulsion system was experiencing an unexpected helium leak.
With the Starliner now grounded until the leak can be resolved, Williams will have to wait onboard the orbiting outpost until another craft can transport her and two Russian cosmonauts back to land. Her current mission was extended at least until the next SpaceX Dragon capsule arrives in early November.
The delay poses no risk to Williams or her crewmates. They have sufficient supplies and will continue their productive work on the space station until their rides home are ready. NASA and its commercial crew partners are fully committed to ensuring the safety of astronauts. Getting Williams and the cosmonauts back safely as soon as possible remains the top priority while troubleshooting the Starliner problem.
