Indian-Origin Astronaut Sunita Williams Stuck in Space. What's Causing Delay?

New Delhi: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and and her crewmate Butch Wilmore,who went to space earlier this month, are stuck in the International Space Station (ISS) and their return is likely to get delayed. The delay is being attributed to the glitches found in the Boeing spaceship they had travelled in. 

The space journey of the astronauts was initially planned for a week which later got delayed with the NASA, the space agency of US, announcing that they would return to Earth no earlier than June 18. 

Taking to X, NASA had said, “NASA and Boeing Space teams set a return date of no earlier than Tuesday, June 18, for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete #Starliner systems checkouts.”

Their return date was again extended to June 26. It is not clear now when the astronauts will attempt their journey back to the earth. 

On its maiden trip, the Boeing Starliner has been facing a series of glitches that had earlier delayed its launch twice. The constant delays have raised concerns, but what exacerbates their troubles are allegations that the issues with the spaceship were already known. 

The ISS is a "mini city in space" about the size of a football field that is used for research by astronauts from multiple space agencies .
Williams and Wilmore had reached there on June 5. On June 22, NASA announced the extension of their stay on the space station.