How will Sunita Williams, who is stuck in space, return? What are the 3 big risks

It has been more than two months since astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stranded in space. The Boeing Starliner mission was going to be about eight days long and both astronauts were expected to return to Earth by June 14. However, due to a technical fault in the spacecraft, their return to Earth has been delayed indefinitely. The spacecraft was launched on June 5, but due to a glitch in its thruster, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore are stuck in the spacecraft.

After several weeks of both being stranded, reports are coming out that NASA may consider SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will return in February next year and due to this both may remain stranded in space till 2025. Even as NASA considers alternative measures to safely bring back the two stranded astronauts, speculations are rife about Sunita Williams' return. From spacesuits to deteriorating health on the International Space Station (ISS), reports are rife on the internet that indicate more chaos for Williams and Wilmore.

NASA is currently considering whether they should remain in the damaged Starliner or take the help of SpaceX Dragon, which is Boeing's rival. If both of them think of returning from Boeing Starliner, it can prove to be very dangerous for Williams and Wilmore. According to the Daily Mail report, Rudy Ridolfi, who was the space system commander in the US Army, has described three dangerous scenes regarding the return of Williams and Wilmore... which can happen in situations in which NASA thinks of using Starliner.

Based on the report, this scene means that the thruster fails and in such a situation the spacecraft will only have 96 hours of oxygen and power. If the Starliner's service module places the capsule at a very steep reentry angle, the heat shield may fail due to increased friction. This will cause the capsule to burn in the atmosphere and the astronauts on board to vaporise.

You must understand that there is a problem with the Boeing Starliner's service module, which is mainly the control centre of the entire ship. The systems in the service module control thrusters, water, oxygen etc. For this reason, it is important that the service module is at such an angle that it can easily return to Earth.

According to Ridolfi, if the re-entry angle is too shallow, the capsule may bounce off the Earth's atmosphere and go back into space. This means that the astronauts may be stranded somewhere in orbit forever and then NASA will have to try to find them and get the capsule back.

As everyone knows, many thrusters have failed before and due to this the risk of this happening during return may increase. If this happens for some reason, both the astronauts will start floating in space and they will have limited oxygen and power. In this situation, they will have 96 hours to fix the thruster and in the meantime it will be necessary to bring both of them back to Earth.

In the report, Ridolfi has suggested that NASA should think about launching a rescue mission with the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. He believes that this is one of the safest solutions. He also advised NASA to thoroughly evaluate the risks and consider alternative options, in which the safety of the astronauts should be given priority.