Context

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is ready to fly for a journey to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Starliner spacecraft.

• It is her third space mission as the pilot of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its first crewed test flight.

Sunita Williams set to fly into space for 3rd time

• Launch: From Cape Canaveral in Florida, Boeing’s Starliner will launch toward the International Space Station.
• Crew Members: Starliner will carry Williams, 58, and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station, marking  a significant success for the challenged Boeing program.
  • If it is successful, it will become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
  • SpaceX and Boeing developed their respective vehicles under NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme, a partnership with private industry contractors. 

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

Under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, this mission seeks to conduct a thorough assessment of the spacecraft’s functionalities, spanning from launch to docking, and culminating in its return to Earth in the western United States. 

• Significance: Upon the successful completion of a crewed flight test, NASA will proceed with the final steps of certifying Starliner and its systems for upcoming crewed missions to the space station.

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Who is Sunita Williams? and Her Space Missions

Sunita Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, to Indian-American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya and Slovene-American Ursuline Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya.

• Career: Williams graduated from the US Naval Academy in May 1987 and was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy.
• Sunita Williams Space Missions: Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33.
• Expeditions 14/15: She was launched with the STS-116 crew on December 9, 2006, and connected with the International Space Station on December 11, 2006, during her maiden spaceflight, Expedition 14/15.
• • Spacewalks: While onboard, she established a world record for females with four spacewalks totalling 29 hours and 17 minutes. Astronaut Peggy Whitson subsequently broke the record in 2008 with a total of five spacewalks.
• Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33: She served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.
  • Launch: On Expedition 32/33, she was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on July 14, 2012.
    • Williams spent four months conducting research and exploration aboard the orbiting laboratory.
    • She landed in Kazakhstan on November 18, 2012, after spending 127 days in space.
  • World record for Spacewalks: During their Expedition, Williams and Hoshide performed three spacewalks to replace a component that relays power from the space station’s solar arrays to its systems and repair an ammonia leak on a station radiator. 
    • With 50 hours and 40 minutes, Williams once again held the record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut. The record has since been overtaken by Peggy Whitson. 
    • She has spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space.

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