Alongside Butch Wilmore, Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams will embark on her third space mission as they prepare to board the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) Boeing crew flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 6. She is scheduled to pilot the Crew Flight Test mission, which will be the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, in her upcoming mission. On Thursday, April 25, the NASA Kennedy Space Centre hosted the 'crew arrival media event' in Florida, United States. Apart from Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, the attendees at the event included Jenn Kunz, assistant director of NASA Kennedy, and Dana Hutcherson, deputy programme manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Programme.

From Space Launch Complex-41 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the astronauts will launch aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. They will spend around a week aboard the orbiting laboratory after docking, according to reports. Know more about Williams' upcoming space mission below.

Who is Sunita Williams?

Sunita Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, to Slovene-American Ursuline Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya and Indian-American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya. Williams was commissioned as a banner in the US Navy from the US Naval Academy in May 1987, and in June 1998, NASA announced her selection as an astronaut. Previously, she has been a part of the US Space Agency's two space missions, including Expedition 14/15 (ended on June 22, 2007) and Expedition 32/33 (ended on November 18, 2012).

About Sunita Williams' Third Space Mission

This mission is the first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Programme. Its goal is to thoroughly assess the spacecraft's capabilities, starting with the launch and ending with its landing in the western United States. Following a successful crewed flight test, NASA will begin the last steps of approving Starliner and its systems for upcoming crewed space station flights.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2024 01:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).