Delhi, New:

On Thursday, the Boeing Starliner carrying Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and her crewmate Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) without incident. With her first-ever pilot and test flight of a newly designed crew spacecraft, the 59-year-old astronaut has made history.

Ms. Williams is on her third trip back to the International Space Station (ISS). She has already brought a statue of Lord Ganesha and the Bhagavad Gita to space.

She gave the other seven astronauts on board a hug and performed a small dance to celebrate their arrival at the space station.

An ancient ISS custom of welcoming guests with a bell ringing was observed for Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore.

Regarding her “dance party,” Sunita Williams declared, “This is the way to keep things moving forward.”

She complimented her staff, referring to them as “another family,” for the “wonderful welcome.”

The first two members of the crew to pilot the Starliner are Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore.

Approximately 26 hours after their launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, they successfully docked the Boeing spacecraft with the International Space Station.

As the Starliner made a series of maneuvers to get closer to the orbiting laboratory for docking, two NASA astronauts kept an eye on it.

A small technical problem, such a helium leak, delayed docking by around one hour.

The crew tested a number of things en route to the International Space Station, including piloting the Starliner manually for the first time. They will help with several tests and carry out scientific experiments during their roughly week-long stay in space.

They will land on land, not in the ocean, when they return on the Starliner.

NASA has traditionally preferred to transport astronauts using SpaceX crew modules, and it appears that Boeing Starliner will follow suit as a component of the commercial crew program.

Flying to the space station, according to Sunita Williams, “feels like coming home”

Sunita Williams said she was a little anxious before the launch, but she didn’t feel anxious about piloting the new spacecraft.
She remarked, “Arriving at the International Space Station will feel like returning home.”

Ms. Williams was involved in the design of the seven crew member-seat SUV-sized Starliner.

When it came time to give the spacecraft a name, she went with “Calypso” in honor of the well-known vessel owned by French oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau, whom she had greatly loved as a student.

To sum up:

Sunita Williams travels to the International Space Station in a Boeing Starliner.

She greets the other astronauts on the space station with hugs and dances when she arrives.

The Starliner carrying more than 500 pounds of cargo will stay parked for 26 hours.

Alongside her crewmate Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams danced as she securely docked the Boeing Starliner capsule at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday.

As the first female pilot of a new spaceship on its first crewed test flight, Williams created history. On June 5, the 58-year-old and NASA astronaut Wilmore launched on the Boeing Starliner from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Williams can be seen stepping out of the capsule, dancing a little in zero gravity, and giving the other ISS astronauts hugs in a video that Boeing Space shared on Twitter.

As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, this mission, known as the Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT), is crucial to approving the Starliner for frequent crewed flights to the International Space Station. Should it be successful, it will be the second private spaceship to carry humans to and from the orbiting laboratory, following SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

Williams, who has completed two space shuttle missions and spent a total of 322 days in orbit, views this voyage as yet another ground-breaking achievement in her extraordinary career.

She broke records for the most spacewalks (seven) and spacewalk duration (50 hours, 40 minutes) by a woman during her prior ISS trips in 2006–2007 and 2012.

Over 500 pounds of cargo for the orbiting station will be transported by the Starliner spacecraft, which will stay docked with the ISS for approximately 26 hours.

The two astronauts will spend roughly a week on the station testing and verifying the Starliner’s systems before heading back to Earth, where they are expected to land in western America using parachutes.

Williams’ accomplishment is especially noteworthy because of her Indian and Slovenian ancestry. She was born to a Slovenian mother and an Indian father in Gujarat. She has honored her multiracial heritage by bringing Slovenian and Indian artifacts on her space missions.

Williams and Wilmore’s historic trip aboard the Starliner marks a critical step toward increasing human access to space through commercial collaborations, even while they continue their mission on the International Space Station.