This is Sunita Williams’ third space flight. She spent 25 hours flying the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
Sunita Williams Makes History Again with Boeing Starliner Flight
Sunita Williams, a name well-known in the realm of space exploration, has once again made history. The Indian-origin astronaut embarked on her third spaceflight yesterday, marking a significant milestone. Williams piloted the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, Calypso, on its mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Accompanying her on this historic flight was NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, who served as the mission commander.
This mission is historic as Sunita Williams became the first woman to pilot such a mission. The flight, part of a crewed flight test, launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Previously, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule was the sole spacecraft ferrying astronauts to the ISS for NASA. However, the Starliner has now entered the competition, with Williams becoming the first female crew member to fly it.
Williams’ journey on the Boeing Starliner marks her third spaceflight. She spent 25 hours flying the spacecraft to the ISS, where it docked upon arrival. Both crew members will spend a week at the ISS before returning on June 14. Despite the spacecraft’s automation, the crew manually used the hand controllers. According to Fortune India, during the far-field demo, they oriented the Starliner’s nose towards Earth to align its communication antenna with tracking and data relay satellites. They then adjusted the Starliner to ensure its solar arrays faced the sun to charge its internal battery, before reorienting it towards the stars.
These maneuvers demonstrated the manual control capabilities of the Starliner. The crew also manually adjusted the spacecraft’s speed during this process.
Boeing developed the Calypso under a contract with NASA. Although the spacecraft faced several delays, it finally launched successfully on Wednesday. This test flight has so far been successful, and with it, Sunita Williams has made history as the first female pilot of the Starliner.