Editorial: Long-awaited homecoming for Williams and Wilmore

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will finally leave the ISS and head home, bringing the curtains down on an unexpected ‘Lost in Space’-like saga

The long ordeal of the stranded astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, is finally coming to an end with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announcing that they would be brought back to Earth next month. The two astronauts, who hitched a ride to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft in June last year, will head home on a SpaceX Dragon capsule that will leave Earth with the ISS replacement crew on March 12. After a few days’ handover period, Williams and Wilmore will leave the ISS and head home, after having spent about 250 days in orbit. This will bring the curtains down on an unexpected ‘Lost in Space’-like saga that began with their June 5 launch on a mission to complete Starliner’s first piloted test flight. But the spacecraft was plagued by glitches, including propulsion problems and propellant leaks, that required months of analysis. NASA hoped to bring them home this month but there was yet another delay due to preparing the replacement team for the ‘Dragon’ capsule mission, late last year. Concerns over the astronauts’ well-being surfaced in November, particularly as images from the space station showed Williams, the Indian-origin astronaut, looking gaunt and tired during the extended stay. Last month, United States President Donald Trump blamed the previous Biden Administration for abandoning the astronauts in space. What was originally planned to be an eight-day mission for the astronauts got delayed due to multiple technical issues with the Starliner and then the wait became excruciatingly long.

NASA’s plan to prepare a new capsule led to further delays in their return and now the American space agency has decided to use the old capsule for its next crew launch. Unlike Boeing’s troubled starliner, the SpaceX Crew Dragon completed multiple successful missions, reinforcing its reputation as a more reliable option for crewed spaceflights. Long been a monopoly player, Boeing is now coming under intense scrutiny due to ongoing problems with Starliner, highlighting the challenges in the commercial space industry. There is growing criticism — justifiably so — against the aerospace giant for prioritising profits over human safety. Questions are being raised over whether the company followed the prescribed modules of safety and rescue operations without any waste of time when such glitches started appearing. Technical glitches are not predictable, but safety modules for rescue cannot have the same uncertainty. It cannot escape the accountability for the failure of thrusters and leakage of helium resulting in the deterioration of the health of the astronauts inside the auto-locked vehicle. Boeing’s challenges are not limited to the space sector. It faced significant issues with commercial aircraft including the 737 Max crisis, raising broader concerns about safety standards. Around 20 whistle-blowers have come forward, raising alarms about safety and quality issues within the aerospace giant.

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