NASA Sunita Williams and Bush will return from space in February 2025 spacex dragon crew-9 spacecraft | Sunita Williams and Bush will return from space in February 2025: NASA said – will return from SpaceX’s Dragon; have been in space for 80 days

Sunita and Bush have been stranded in space for the last 80 days.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her partner Bush Wilmore will return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2025. US space agency NASA said in a statement on Saturday (August 24).

NASA finally admitted that it would be dangerous to bring the two astronauts stranded on the ISS in Boeing’s new capsule. In such a situation, 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 autopilot mode. At the same time, this time only two astronauts will be sent instead of four in the SpaceX mission going in September.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, ‘NASA has decided that Bush and Sunita will return next February in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Boeing’s Starliner will return to Earth without a crew.’

Sunita and Wilmore reached the ISS on June 5 on NASA’s Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Both were supposed to return on June 13, but their return was postponed due to a technical fault in the spacecraft.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams with the crew after arriving at the space station on June 6.

Space flights are risky: Bill Nelson
Speaking about the dangers of space travel, Nelson said, “Space flight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight is by nature neither safe nor routine, so the decision to keep Butch and Sunita on the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner back without a crew is a result of commitment to safety.”

He said that Boeing worked very hard with NASA to obtain the data, after which this decision was taken. We want to understand the design improvements of Starliner and the root causes of the malfunction. This will help Boeing Starliner become an important part of our crew to go to the International Space Station (ISS).

Why were Sunita and Wilmore sent to the space station
Sunita and Bush Wilmore went on Boeing and NASA’s joint ‘Crew Flight Test Mission’. Sunita was the spacecraft pilot in this. Bush Wilmore, who went with her, was the commander of this mission. Both of them had to return to Earth after staying for 8 days in the International Space Station (ISS).

At the time of launch, Boeing Defense, Space and Security President and CEO Ted Colbert called it a great beginning of a new era of space research. The main objective of this mission was to prove the spacecraft’s ability to carry astronauts to the space station and bring them back.

The astronauts had to do research and several experiments in 8 days on the space station. Sunita and Wilmore are the first astronauts who were sent on space travel through the Atlas-V rocket. During this mission, they also had to fly the spacecraft manually. Many objectives related to the flight test also had to be completed.

Sunita Williams and Bush Wilmore at the International Space Station. The picture is from July 9, 2024.

How did Sunita and Willmore get stuck in space for so long?
There were many problems with the Starliner spacecraft since its launch. Due to these, the launch had failed several 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.

Within 25 days after 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.

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