Kumar Bahukhandi
Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. – Photo: NASA
How much delay has occurred in bringing Sunita Williams? Now after a successful launch, in how many days can Sunita and Barry return to Earth? What arrangements have been made to bring them to Earth? Apart from this, what problems can they face after returning to Earth? Let’s find out…
The countdown has begun for the safe return of Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams to Earth. Along with her, Barry Wilmore will also return to Earth after nine months. The American spacecraft took off early Saturday (Indian time) to bring them both. After this, the spacecraft docked at the ISS on Sunday morning. Now both Sunita and Barry can return to Earth as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, it is important to know how much delay has happened in bringing Sunita Williams? Now after a successful launch, in how many days can Sunita and Barry return to Earth? What arrangements have been made to bring them to Earth? Apart from this, what problems can they face after returning to Earth? Let’s know…
First know – in which mission was Sunita Williams sent?
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Mission was launched on 5 June 2024. Under this mission, NASA sent its two astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Butch Wilmore on an eight-day journey. Both were sent on the mission via the Starliner spacecraft. This was the first flight of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts.
The mission on which Sunita and Barry are is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Actually, NASA aims to send safe, reliable and low-cost human missions from the US to the International Space Station in partnership with US private industry. This test mission was launched for this purpose. The goal of this mission was to demonstrate Starliner’s ability to carry out six-month rotational missions to the space station. The crew flight test was designed to test readiness and collect necessary performance data before long-duration flights.
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. – Photo: ANI
Why did Sunita and Barry get stuck on the ISS?
However, during Starliner’s flight to the space station, some of the spacecraft’s thrusters did not perform as expected. ‘Thrusters’ are usually called low-force rocket motors. Apart from the weak performance of the thrusters, several leaks were also observed in the Starliner’s helium system. After this, NASA and Boeing gathered information about the spacecraft through extensive data analysis. This investigation included organizations established after the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. This accident happened on February 1, 2003. This accident happened when the Columbia spacecraft was returning to Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts were killed in this accident, including Kalpana Chawla of Indian origin.
Why did Sunita and Barry get stuck on the ISS?
However, during Starliner’s flight to the space station, some of the spacecraft’s thrusters did not perform as expected. ‘Thrusters’ are usually called low-force rocket motors. Apart from the weak performance of the thrusters, several leaks were also observed in the Starliner’s helium system. After this, NASA and Boeing gathered information about the spacecraft through extensive data analysis. This investigation included organizations established after the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. This accident happened on February 1, 2003. This accident happened when the Columbia spacecraft was returning to Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts were killed in this accident, including Kalpana Chawla of Indian origin.
How did Sunita Williams’ eight-day mission turn into nine months, why is NASA facing problems now?
What was done to return Sunita and Barry?
1.Meanwhile, NASA had started working on a new plan to bring Sunita and Barry back. It is said that due to Starliner being stuck in the ISS, SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission to be sent to the ISS in August was stuck till September. In such a situation, NASA decided to send only two of the four astronauts decided by SpaceX at the end of September, so that Sunita and Barry could be returned to Earth by giving them a place in the vacant slot in its return. Crew-9 was finally launched on 28 September.
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2,NASA then explored the possibilities of returning Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth. After investigation, it was revealed that it would not be safe to bring passengers back in Starliner. Finally, after waiting for three months, NASA decided that Starliner would be brought back to Earth without a crew. On 6 September 2024, Starliner returned to Earth without a crew.
- The return of Crew-9 mission was scheduled for December 17. That means Sunita and Barry had to spend more than two months on ISS. But this period was also extended continuously. In fact, NASA decided that before returning Crew-9 to Earth, it wanted to launch SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for a new Crew-10 mission. But preparations for the launch of Crew-10 could not be completed in December. NASA said that the Dragon spacecraft will reach Florida in early January. After this, the launch of Crew-10 was postponed till February.
- After the return was fixed in February, while both members of Crew-9 – American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov – had to do many tests related to the flight, Sunita Williams became the commander of ISS’s Expedition 72 during this time. In view of her experience, the responsibility of working and looking after everyone living on the space station fell on her shoulders. During the five months, presidential elections were also held in the US, in which the astronauts present on the ISS also cast their votes.
- Meanwhile, NASA tried to speed up the process of returning Sunita and Barry present in the ISS. However, on February 12, the team’s preparations once again suffered a setback. Actually, the agency was taking time to certify the process of preparing the Dragon spacecraft. In such a situation, its launch was postponed for a month and preparations were made to launch Crew-10 for the ISS on March 12.
- On March 12, about an hour before launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the Crew-10 mission was postponed once again. It was told that the launch was canceled due to a hydraulic system problem with the ground support clamp arm in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. After this, the next launch date was fixed for March 13 at 7.26 pm (March 14 4:56 am according to Indian time). This mission of Crew-10 was also launched successfully.
- Now with the successful launch of Crew-10, NASA has announced that the Crew-9 mission of astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov can depart from the space station before 9:05 am on Wednesday, March 19 after completing the handover process. Provided that the weather is bad at the splashdown locations off the coast of Florida.
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What problems can Sunita and Barry face after returning to Earth?
- Flu-like condition, difficulty in walking
According to experts, the return of Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore is not going to be easy at all. The environment on Earth is quite different from that of the ISS. Actually, the environment of space is of zero gravity. That is, astronauts here cover a distance of several feet in one step. Not only this, on many occasions they do not even have to keep their feet on the spaceship for hours. In such a situation, the ability of their feet to put pressure on solid surfaces is reduced and the thick part of the muscles present in their feet is reduced.
Due to this, due to the presence of gravitational force on Earth, when they try to walk, they will have problems in moving their feet on solid surfaces and will feel weak. Also, their steps will seem small, which is called ‘baby feet’ condition. Not only this, Sunita and Barry will also complain of dizziness and nausea for some time on Earth.
According to Terry Virts, an astronaut, after returning from the zero gravity environment of the ISS, he was feeling very heavy. Not only this, he was also feeling dizzy and was experiencing a flu-like infection. According to Terry, after returning from space, it takes at least a week for the body to adjust to the Earth’s environment. It is believed that this time may be even longer for Sunita and Barry to completely adjust to the Earth’s environment.
Is Sunita Williams losing weight rapidly in space? – Photo: NASA
2.Weak heart
According to The Guardian newspaper, while living in space, the bone density of astronauts decreases, which does not heal quickly. Apart from this, there is also less flesh in their body. This weakens the hands and legs. It even affects the heart, because while on Earth the heart has to work against gravity to maintain blood flow, in zero gravity in space, this extra force does not apply to the heart.
Since Sunita Williams has been in space for a long time, her heart has now become accustomed to working in zero gravity. It does not have to work hard to supply blood to every part of the body. Now when she returns to Earth, her heart will have to maintain blood flow against the force of gravity as well. This means that her weak heart will have to show strength again according to Earth. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and blood flow to every part of the body is not formed on time. This increases the risk of blood clotting in the body of astronauts.
3. Effect on the brain
Not only this, after coming to Earth from zero gravity environment, the fluid present in the body of the astronauts starts accumulating around the brain. Due to this, they feel flu. According to astrophysicist Alan Duffy, due to this fluid, the shape of the pupil of the astronauts’ eyes changes and they face problems in seeing. After returning to Earth, astronauts also need glasses many times.
