Washington, D.C, District of Columbia Sep 12, 2024 (Issuewire.com) - NASA’s astronaut Sunita Williams has just made a record by staying up in space along with her crewmate Butch Wilmore. They have been at the International Space Station (ISS) for three months now. However, their mission was supposed to be completed within 8 days only. It was due to the technical difficulties in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft that needed to be fixed which caused their extended stay on ISS. However, the issue will not be fixed any sooner as their return to Earth is scheduled for February 2025. Therefore, the mission which was assigned for only 8 days will become eight months now with the extended delay.
This long adventure in space is making Williams and Wilmore the record-holder for the longest single spaceflight ever done before in history. However, there is NASA astronaut Frank Rubio who made the record of staying for 371 consecutive days on ISS and he returned to Earth on September 27, 2023. While Wilmore and Williams will be spending 240 days in total, their joint achievements make it long enough for their records. They are currently no.7th on the list of longest space missions. Combining all the previous space missions, Sunita Williams will be staying more than 560 days in total after this mission which puts her in 2nd on the list for personal records.
Williams and Wilmore started their mission on June 5 but could not return after 8 days due to technical issues such as helium leaking and other problems that can put the spacecraft in potential danger as well as the lives of the astronauts. Since, Boeing's Starliner is not making up to the mark right now, SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is assigned to perform the task by NASA. They will return through the Crew-9 Mission, starting soon this month. Life on ISS is sustainable and the astronauts are doing okay as the International Space Station is well-equipped with everything.
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