Sunita Williams New Update: Indian-origin American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and her partner Butch Wilmore have been stranded in space for the last 46 days, they were to return to Earth on June 13, but till now they have not been brought back, meanwhile NASA has made a big disclosure.
What is Sunita Williams doing?
According to a statement released by NASA, with enough time at their disposal, the two astronauts said on Wednesday that Wilmore and Williams are “finding ways to effectively water plants in a weightless environment.” “The two took turns in the Harmony module throughout the day to test how root models and plants of different sizes would absorb water in microgravity. The Plant Water Management study looks at techniques such as hydroponics and air circulation to nourish plants growing in spacecraft and space habitats,”
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How to keep plants alive in space
In simple language, NASA said in its blog post that it is working on finding and testing ways to water plants in microgravity. They have designed plant water management hardware. NASA wrote in its blog that Williams conducted several tests using hydroponics and air. She wanted to understand how to nurture different types of plants well while living in space. Williams and Wilmore have also made a video of this entire research and experiment.
Flight took off on June 5, return was on June 13, now return will not happen till July 21
NASA’s experienced test pilots Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams flew on Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the orbiting laboratory on June 5, Boeing’s ‘Crew Flight Test Mission’ carrying Williams and Butch Wilmore departed from Florida’s ‘Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’ after years of delays and failures. Williams and Wilmore were expected to stay in space for about a week, which was enough time to check the capsule, but due to problems in the capsule used to run the spacecraft, NASA and Boeing had to cancel their return to Earth several times.
When will Sunita Williams return
NASA has not yet given any information about the return of the astronauts, nor has it given any date, just said that they are safe. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich had said, “We are in no hurry to return.”