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NASA Commercial Crew astronaut Sunita Williams smiles as she wears her space suit at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) training facility near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, US. (Image: Reuters)
Sunita Williams has spent more time walking in outer space than any other woman.
NASA astronaut Sunita L. Williams will soon head for the International Space Station (ISS) and is currently training to be the pilot of the Crew Flight Test mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
She will be accompanied by fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore. After spending a week in the ISS, they will return to Earth and land in western US, the space agency said in a press release.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a collaborative space laboratory orbiting Earth, where astronauts of different nationalities have conducted scientific research, technological experiments and worked on international projects related to the field of space exploration.
“NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will lift off aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and dock at the orbiting laboratory, where they will stay for about a week,” the space agency said.
The space agency said that both astronauts are part of Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program. The mission is the first crewed flight for the Starliner spacecraft.
Both of them will test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system. They will test the launch and docking capabilities of the spacecraft and return to Earth in the western United States.
“As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the mission is the first crewed flight for the Starliner spacecraft. The mission will test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system, including launch, docking and return to Earth in the western United States. Following a successful crewed flight test, NASA will begin the final process of certifying Starliner and systems for crewed missions to the space station,” the press release said.
During her time aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Williams conducted extensive scientific research, including experiments on the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. She also performed multiple spacewalks and retains the record of spending more time walking in space than any other woman.
She completed the first ever triathlon in space — running, biking, and even swimming to compete with Earth-based athletes 240 miles below who were competing in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in Southern California in 2015.
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