The safe homecoming of veteran astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Willmore has attracted global attention, ignited debates about the future of NASA’s missions and brought into spotlight the growing clout of SpaceX, which is now replacing the hallowed NASA as the premier US agency leading national space exploration. It equally demonstrates the need for greater public-private collaboration globally in advancing safe space exploration and flight capabilities.
How the drama unfolded
Not too long ago, in June 2024, massive thrusters of the Boeing Starliner fired at the legendary Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, ferrying five astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), including Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, retired US Navy officer and Barry ‘Butch’ Willmore, United States Navy test pilot. It was a ‘routine’ mission in every sense of term, which was supposed to last eight days and evaluate the feasibility of using the Boeing Starliner – a spacecraft designed to transport astronauts into low-earth-orbit destinations and onto the ISS – for regular rotation missions of crew. The mission was to establish “Starliner’s ability execute a six-month rotational mission to the space station,” according to NASA, besides collating data to assess the spacecraft’s long-duration flight readiness.
However, what transpired afterwards was hardly routine.
NASA engineers reported leaks in the spacecraft’s Helium System and that some thrusters were performing below expectation. The central space agency sprang into action, conducting reviews of its Program Control Board and agency flight readiness, mulling ways to bring the two stranded astronauts safely back to Earth. All this was to be completed by August to ensure the earliest return of the duo. Much transpired in between – the reported Helium leaks stabilized after arriving at the ISS.
Still, the niggling issues with the rocket thrusters prompted NASA officials to send the spacecraft without any inhabitants back to Earth, given Starliner’s anonymous undocking and deorbiting capability. NASA admitted that the agency was in no rush to bring the astronauts back to Earth, learning from the disastrous Columbia Space shuttle mission accident in 2003, when the aircraft disintegrated upon re-entering into the atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board, including our very own Kalpana Chawla. The decision to delay the homecoming of the two astronauts made sense as human lives mattered more than giving into growing public pressure around expediting Sunita and Butch’s return.
As NASA worked with its commercial partner, SpaceX, to examine vast tracts of flight testing data, it sought its intervention in sending a manned spacecraft. SpaceX had already planned to launch its space mission in August, which the firm delayed to bring the stranded astronauts back, while ensuring a safe docking slot availability on the ISS. SpaceX deployed its Crew Dragon spacecraft with a capsule named ‘Freedom’ for SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, the 9th operational flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The mission was eventually launched on the 28th of September and led by Commander Nick Hague from NASA and Mission Specialist Roscosmos Aleksandr Gorbunov. The two-member crew reached the ISS on the 29th of September, docking at the Harmony module’s forward port.
Beyond NASA, the homecoming acquired a political undertone
All this while, the issue of stranded astronauts gained global attention, snowballing into a major domestic issue for the poll-bound USA. Elon Musk and then Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump claimed that the Biden administration was putting this issue on the backburner due to ‘political’ reasons. However, given the challenges around collaboration between NASA, SpaceX, and international partners, and the lack of immediate availability of any spacecraft further complicated an already vexed issue. Even the astronauts hinted that the Biden government was not complicit in the matter, suggesting that it was more a political rhetoric than a serious accusation.
During these 9 months, the two astronauts worked with their colleagues involved in Expedition 71 of NASA, undertaking space walks, repair and maintenance activities and space research and exploration. Finally, after a prolonged delay and global efforts, the spacecraft carrying four astronauts made a safe water landing off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of America on the 18th of March. This brought the curtains down on a long-drawn drama that underlines why space remains humankind’s final frontier and the most unforgiving and hostile environment to operate in. The concerted efforts by public-private entities also stress why space exploration must go beyond national boundaries and acquire a more global character. More opportunities for global cooperation will emerge with ongoing efforts to decode Mars as NASA’s Perseverance Rover, ESA’s ExoMars mission, China’s Tianwen-1, and India’s Mangalyaan examine the Red planet, setting the stage for inter-planetary missions in the future.
With the Artemis Program, NASA is already working closely with international partners like the European Space Agency (ESA), Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and private entities like SpaceX. The ambitious program aims to establish a longer-term human presence on the Moon, which will act as a pit stop and energy source for interplanetary exploration. Even as globalization and international cooperation take a backseat in finance and trade, with looming trade wars, tariff threats and the narratives of “making their countries great again,” leaders would do well to keep space exploration out of their rhetoric and interventions. Sunita and Butch’s safe homecoming explains why!
What Worried People About Butch and Sunita’s Long-term Space Stay?
ISS is a fully functional and fully equipped space station with cutting-edge technological and communication features. The astronauts are monitored 24*7 and have access to emails, telephone calls and video conferencing to keep them close to their friends and family as they orbit the Earth in 90 minutes, circling at speeds upwards of 28,000 kilometres/hr. Despite all possible support and medical attention, space remains an unforgiving and harsh place to live without the comfort of the omnipresent gravity. Exposure to zero gravity for prolonged durations can have long-term and irreversible effects on the human body, including loss of bone density, muscle atrophy, spaceflight-associated Neuro-ocular syndrome, exposure to radiation and decreased immunity.
A close look at Sunita Williams’ touchdown video would reveal that she slid to the stretcher as the capsule door opened, which was due to a condition called ‘baby feet.’ Astronauts do not have the strength in their legs to support their body weight.
