Can ISRO help ’save’ Sunita Williams? S Somanath says...

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are awaiting their return from space as officials race against time to find the root cause of anomalies detected in Boeings Starliner during the launch. As the NASA continues to explore safe options to bring the two astronauts back to Earth, can the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) offer any help in the situation?

ISRO chief S Somanath said, "Right now we can't do anything as direct help because we don't have a craft that will go there up and save her."

In a podcast with BeerBiceps, Somanath said only the US and Russia can help in bringing back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.

"The only possibilities are either from Russia or the US. The US has the Crew Dragon vehicle which can go and Russia has Soyuz which could bring them. Either of these can only save them," the ISRO chief said.

He also mentioned that he doesn't believe there's a serious issue at this moment with the Starliner and the two astronauts in space.

"The Boeing Starliner showed some anomalies, and [it appears to me that] they [NASA] don't want to take risks...because it has shown some issues in the past, even before launch," he said.

Somanath said the launches were postponed earlier many times, and finally, NASA took a chance and launched it. "But they don't want to take the risk in return" mission, he added.

Somanath said NASA could use the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the return mission.

Sunita Williams in space: A brief recap

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore became the first astronauts to fly aboard Boeing's Starliner Crew Test mission. They launched aboard Boeing's Starliner on June 5.

Even before Wilmore and Williams blasted off June 5, their capsule sprang a leak in propulsion-related plumbing. Boeing and NASA judged the small helium leak to be stable and isolated, and proceeded with the test flight.

But as Starliner approached the space station the next day, four more leaks erupted. Five thrusters also failed.

SpaceX could retrieve the astronauts, but that would keep them up there until February 2025. They were supposed to return after a week or so at the station.

As two Starliner astronauts completed more than two months in space, NASA said Thursday it would decide on August 24 whether Boeing's new capsule is safe enough to return two astronauts from the International Space Station, where they've been waiting since June.