NASA has decided to bring Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams back to Earth in February next year in view of the technical fault in Boeing’s spacecraft. A major reason behind this decision is astronaut Kalpana Chawla. In fact, on 1 February 2003, the Columbia space shuttle of the first Indian-origin female astronaut Kalpana Chawla broke down and burned as soon as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. 7 people, including Kalpana, died in this accident. After this accident, NASA has become more careful about its astronauts. NASA Chief Bill Nelson said, “That accident has had a deep impact on our decision. At that time, mistakes were made by NASA. The atmosphere here was very different then. The words and warnings of junior flight engineers were often ignored. But now it is not so. We give everyone in NASA a chance to express their views.” Safety of astronauts is most important, space flight is always dangerous
NASA officials said that in the case of Sunita Williams, the decision not to bring her back by Boeing spacecraft was taken unanimously. Bill Nelson said that space flight can be extremely dangerous even during the safest journey. The safety of astronauts is a priority for us, keeping this decision in mind. Kalpana Chawla, born in Karnal, Haryana, flew to space on 16 January 2003 in NASA’s space shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle. After completing a 15-day journey, when she was returning to Earth on 1 February, her aircraft crashed 16 minutes from landing. All 7 astronauts died in this. Apart from this, on 28 January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger also exploded while returning to Earth. 14 astronauts died in this accident. Sunita trapped in space for 85 days, will return next year
NASA had told on 24 February that Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore would return to Earth by February 2025. NASA had finally accepted that it could be dangerous to bring the two astronauts trapped on the ISS in Boeing’s new Starliner capsule. Both the astronauts were sent to ISS on June 5 in this spacecraft. NASA had said that Sunita and Butch Wilmore will return in February in the Dragon spacecraft of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. At the same time, the Starliner capsule will try to separate from the ISS in a week or two and return to auto pilot mode. NASA official Bill Nelson had said, ‘Boeing’s Starliner will return to Earth without a crew.’ Sunita and Wilmore were to return on June 13, but their return was postponed due to technical fault in the spacecraft. How did Sunita and Wilmore get stuck in space for so long?
The Starliner spacecraft had many problems since its launch. Due to these, the launch failed many times even before June 5. There were reports of problems in the spacecraft even after the launch. NASA said that there is a small helium leak in the thruster of the spacecraft’s service module. A spacecraft has many thrusters. With their help, the spacecraft changes its path and speed. At the same time, due to the presence of helium gas, pressure is created on the rocket. Its structure remains strong, which helps the rocket in its flight. In 25 days after the launch, there were 5 helium leaks in the spacecraft capsule. 5 thrusters had stopped working. Apart from this, a propellant valve could not be closed completely. The crew present in space and the mission manager sitting in Houston, America, together are not able to fix it.
