Boeing launches NASA astronauts for the first time after delays, Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams on board

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Boeing launched astronauts for the first time Wednesday, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA. Indian-origin NASA pilot Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore took off from Cape Canaveral on board the Starliner capsule. They will arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday and spend just over a week at the orbiting lab.

The Starliner’s crew debut occurred years later than expected due to restrictive spacecraft laws and comes at a time when Boeing is struggling with safety issues on its airplane side. Wednesday's launch was the third attempt with astronauts since early May, coming after two two separate rocket-related problems. A small helium leak in the spacecraft’s propulsion system also caused delays. However managers had decided the leak was manageable and not a safety issue.

Half an hour later, he and Williams were safely in orbit and giving chase to the space station. Back at Cape Canaveral, the relieved launch controllers stood and applauded. After all the trouble leading up to Wednesday's launch, including two scrapped countdowns, everything seemed to go smoothly before and during liftoff.

The launch of Sunita Williams-piloted Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was called off at the last minute at the Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday. The mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed for the third time in the last two months.

Why was Sunita William's spaceflight called off at last moment?

According to the US space agency NASA, the landmark space mission was canceled at the last moment due to a delay in the spacecraft's launch caused by an error. At the time of spacecraft launch on Saturday, there was a delay at 3 minutes and 50 seconds before liftoff was called by an automated computer system, which takes over the flight sequence in the final minutes of the countdown.


When will NASA, Boeing attempt next space launch?

After an unexpected delay in Starliner space launch, the US space agency has scheduled a backup launch attempt for Sunday. However, the launch attempt scheduled for today can be carried out only if the issue with ground launch sequencer is resolved on time.

"When Starliner shifted from ground power to internal power, there was a slight increase in voltage that turned off the cabin fans, which keep the astronauts cool as they sit in their spacesuits in the capsule. They were able to get them turned on again quickly," Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for the Commercial Crew Program at Boeing said as per CNN.


Website Link : worldtopscientists.com


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