Sunita Williams bids farewell to Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, making space station home until next year

Digital Desk: Sunita Williams the celebrated American astrounut with her crew member Butch Willmore said goodbye to Boeing's new astronaut capsule Starliner on late Friday, September 6, as the spacecraft landed on earth without the astronauts. Starliner experienced malfunctions like helium leakage, which brought difficulty in the return of the two astronauts. The two astronauts who have additional food supplies, have to continue their stay on the International Space Station until their return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle in February 2025.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft landed on Earth with empty seats in Mexico after completing a three-month test mission facing many technical issues that have delayed the return of Williams and Willmore. "Bring her back to Earth. Good luck," Sunita Williams told Boeing's Mission Control before the space capsule headed to Earth.

The two astronauts flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024. The duo had to return  to Earth in June, a week after its launch. After months of turmoil over its safety, NASA decided it was too risky to bring the duo back on Starliner. So the capsule left behind the duo at the ISS.

It needs to be mentioned that the Boeing Starline is a spacecraft designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station, and some other low-Earth-orbit destinations. The first test flight took place in December 2019 and marked failure. The second flight test was done in 2022. The crew flight test launched in June 2024 and marked with malfunctions like Helium leakage.