The return of the Starliner will take weeks, but NASA astronauts are not complaining
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams said they felt “comfortable” about staying in space for a few more weeks.
She may not realize it, but astronaut Sunita Williams is on a nearly heroic mission.
Williams, who has family ties to Cape Cod, was stuck on the International Space Station.
A planned eight-day mission to the space station turned into a two-month stay due to a series of technical and mechanical problems with the Starliner space capsule that transported Williams and fellow astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore to the space station.
It was the first manned flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner after several canceled flights.
Depending on various variables, Williams and Wilmore may not be able to return home until February.
Fortunately, Williams is able to communicate regularly with her family through a computer connection system very similar to a Zoom conference, said her sister Dina Pandya.
Dina Pandya works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and lives in Falmouth. Her mother, Bonnie Pandya, also lived in Falmouth before moving to Florida.
Last Friday, her mother spoke to Williams and on Sunday the whole family had a Zoom conference with her.
Despite the delay in her return home, Williams is “doing really well,” said Dina Pandya. “She’s completely happy with how things are going. She’s totally happy.”
“She’s an experienced astronaut,” her mother said. “She’s been up there twice. That’s her job. That’s what she does. She enjoys being in space.”
Sunita Williams ran the Boston Marathon in space
Experienced is the right word. In 2007, Williams set the world record for the longest time spent in space by a woman – 195 days. During that trip, Williams ran the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon in just over four hours while strapped to a treadmill.
On a trip to the space station in 2012, Williams joined a group of Cape Codders who were her spirit companions. They gathered for a party at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. During that visit, Williams ran the Falmouth Road Race.
According to a 2012 Cape Cod Times article, Williams said in an interview on NASA’s website that her childhood experiences in Needham and on the Cape laid the foundation for her later ambition to become an astronaut.
“(A teacher) took us, if I remember correctly, to a place on Cape Cod where we were doing marine biology research,” Williams said of an early experience with scientific experiments. “It’s incredible, people with incredible ideas back then. They definitely all left an impression on me.”
In October 2012, Williams spoke via radio from the space station to 100 students at East Falmouth Elementary School.
When asked by a third-grader how it felt to be commander of the space station, Williams replied, “It’s like being on a football team. Everyone participates.”
The exchange between Williams and the third-graders took place during a period of about ten minutes when the space station flew directly over the school, enabling extraterrestrial radio contact.
“I don’t think she minds” being stuck in space
Bonnie Pandya said her daughter especially enjoyed the view of the universe from her vantage point on the space station.
In fact, Dina Pandya said her sister would have liked the trip to the space station to take longer than originally planned.
“She wasn’t really prepared for it, but I don’t think she minds,” Dina said. “This is her last trip, so I think she’s enjoying it.”
Williams, her sister said, enjoys her role as an astronaut and is an inspiration to young people who may see her as a role model.
And she is inspired by the other younger astronauts she met on this trip to the space station.
The last time she was there was in 2012 and she was quite impressed with the technological advances and improvements on the space station and enjoyed learning from the younger astronauts, her sister said.
NASA reportedly said the two astronauts were not “stranded” in space, but rather “stuck” there.
It might even be more appropriate to say that they are “waiting” in space.
Repair of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner
The astronauts spend a lot of time fixing problems with the Starliner spacecraft so they can return home.
It is similar to the movie, “Apollo13,“This is where NASA engineers on the ground instruct astronauts on how to perform repairs and they then carry out the tasks according to instructions,” Dina said.
The astronauts first docked with the space station on June 6, but there was an ongoing problem with helium leaks that worsened after they arrived at the space station.
Efforts to resolve the problem are slow, but “progress” is being made, according to an August 9 article in USA Today by Eric Lagatta.
Only on July 27, a “hot test” of the Starliner propulsion system, which requires helium to control the spacecraft during re-entry into Earth, was conducted with both astronauts sitting in the docked spacecraft, the article said.
However, engineers are still working on the problem and do not yet know when the astronauts will be able to return home.
When will the astronauts come home?
A contingency plan was discussed that would allow for the astronauts to return soon if the Starliner spacecraft is deemed safe to operate.
Otherwise, NASA could send one of its Space-X modules to replace the Starliner spacecraft, although it could take until February for everything to be in place.
Dina Pandya said her sister said NASA expects to make a decision on how to proceed by August 20.
Williams’ mother said she hoped her daughter could be home when she was 59.th Birthday, which is September 19th.
The family says they are neither worried nor nervous about the situation.
“If she’s fine, we’re fine,” Dina said. “If she was stressed, we’d be stressed too.”
“We’re used to it. It’s no big deal. It’s just the way it is,” Bonnie said.
Nevertheless, everyone is eagerly awaiting William’s return home.
“Two dogs are waiting for her, and she and her husband – he’s waiting for her too – have a house in Maine that they want to move into,” Bonnie said.
In the meantime, Williams is making the most of her experience.
In addition to her work on the Starliner, she performs the usual tasks of an astronaut on the space station: She helps with research and daily routines, which include cleaning up and looking forward to unexpected surprises.
“The other day she unpacked a car, including ice cream,” said Dina Pandya. “Saturday night there was an ice cream party.”
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