Sunita Williams stuck in space: Why did NASA schedule her return to Earth in 2025?

Amid months of speculations and assurance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finally confirmed the date of Sunita Williams's return space flight to Earth on Saturday. The US space agency said that the Boeing Starliner capsule will return from the International Spac Station without Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. Meanwhile, the two astronauts will return to the Earth in February 2025 aboard the Dragon capsule of SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk.

Why did NASA postpone Sunita Williams's return flight to 2025?

On Saturday, NASA officials said that it is “too risky” to bring the astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, back to Earth currently. Hence, the Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth without the two astronauts.

"Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a safe, controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September," ANI quoted NASA in a statement.

How has Elon Musk's SpaceX come to the rescue?

Elon Musk's SpaceX is currently the only American company capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Although a SpaceX capsule is currently parked at the ISS, it is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They are scheduled to return in September this year. SpaceX's next spaceflight is scheduled for launch in September this year.

There is another spaceship docked at the ISS, Russian Soyuz capsule. But the Russian capsule is even tighter, as it can fly only three astronauts. The capsule is scheduled to take back two Russians wrapping up a yearlong stint.

The next SpaceX taxi flight was earlier scheduled to carry four astronauts, but it will now carry two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.

Helium leaks at Boeing Starliner

There were repeated glitches with the Boeing Starliner even before its launch from the Earth earlier this year. NASA and Boeing discovered helium leaks and there were complaints of issues with spacecraft reaction control thrusters on June 6.

Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans. However, the uncertainty does not meet with the safety standards making it ‘risky’ for the return of Williams and Wilmore.