When is India-American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams coming back to Earth and what is causing the delay?

NASA and Boeing have announced a second delay in the return of Starliner spacecraft and its crew that includes astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Earlier scheduled for June 18, the Starliner spacecraft will undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth on June 22.

In a joint statement, NASA and Boeing revealed that “the extra time allows the team to finalize departure planning and operations while the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules.” The actual reason of the delay has not been revealed.

According to NASA, the return is likely to last around six hours and will target a location in the desert of Utah, New Mexico or other backup locations, depending on local weather conditions.

It further added,“They are targeting a departure no earlier than June 22, leaving open an opportunity for further extensions of time at the ISS. Starliner, while designed for future six-month missions, can stay docked to the ISS for a maximum of 45 days during its current mission."
 

This NASA mission was launched on June 5 after multiple delays due to issues on the flight. These issues included four helium leaks and five failures of the craft’s 28 maneuvering thrusters. Once the spacecraft was docked at the ISS, it further witnessed another helium leak and an issue with an oxidizer valve. It was a 25-hour flight.

It was recently reported that a new spacebug has been on the ISS that could endanger the crew including the astronauts. Scientists have found that this multi-drug resistant bacteria is known as ‘Enterobacter bugandensis’. It has evolved and has become more potent in a closed environment. Generally known as ‘superbug’, it is a multi-drug resistant bacteria that infects the human respiratory system.

As per the NASA statement, “In a new scientific paper funded by an Ames Space Biology grant, Principal Investigator Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory strains of Enterobacter bugandensis isolated from the International Space Station (ISS) were studied. Thirteen strains of E bugandensis, a bacterium notorious for being multi-drug resistant, were isolated from the ISS.”