Starliner returned to Earth without Sunita Williams, know where and how it landed?

The Starliner spacecraft carrying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to the space station has returned to Earth. The Starliner spacecraft landed at White Sand Space Harbor in New Mexico at around 9:30 am Indian time. However, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who reached the space station through this spacecraft, will now have to stay there, both astronauts are part of NASA's Crew 9 mission and will return to Earth by February 2025 through SpaceX's Dragon capsule.

When the Starliner reached the space station with both the astronauts on June 5, it could not return on time due to a technical fault. NASA, along with Boeing, the company that made the Starliner, decided that they would not bring Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back with the Starliner. Although Boeing was confident that its spacecraft that it was capable of returning safely, NASA considered the return of astronauts through it 'risky'. Finally, after 3 months, Boeing's Starliner managed to land safely on Earth.

According to NASA, the Starliner separated from the space station at 3:30 am Indian time and landed at 9:32 am in the White Sand Space Harbor in New Mexico, USA. This is a desert area. In the video of Starliner's landing, it can be seen that just before landing, the spacecraft's 3 parachutes opened and it managed to land safely on Earth.

Starliner went to the International Space Station on June 5 with Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore and both the astronauts were to return on June 13. This was the first test flight of Starliner, but due to a fault in the thruster and helium leakage, it could not return on time. Williams and Wilmore, who went to space on an 8-day test mission, will have to wait a long time to return. NASA has made both the astronauts a part of its Crew 9 mission. Due to this both will now return by February 2025.

NASA was initially going to launch 4 astronauts through the Crew 9 mission, but a few days ago, NASA informed us about the change in it and said that 2 astronauts will be launched from SpaceX's Dragon capsule, and Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore present on the space station will be a part of it. NASA's Crew 9 mission is to be launched by the end of this month.

Sunita Williams was born in America in 1965. Her father Deepak Pandya was an Indian who migrated to America from Gujarat in 1958. In 1998, NASA selected Sunita Williams as an astronaut. Since then, she has gone on space missions several times.

Sunita Williams has previously traveled to space in 2006 and 2012. According to NASA, she has spent a total of 322 days in space. Although this time her mission was supposed to be just 8 days, a technical fault in the Starliner has turned her 8-day mission into 8 months.