Dr. S. Somanth, the chairman of ISRO gives his statement on the Sunita Williams’ latest news as he states that there is no room for concern since she is in a safe place in space.
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has been stuck in space for over 50 days now. It was supposed to be a 10 day mission starting from June but Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry Butch Wilmore faced some serious technical issues and have been seeking help from NASA and Boeing. The Starliner has faced major defects in the propulsion system followed by helium leaks as well.
Dr. Somanth has claimed exclusively on NDTV that they are in safe hands since they have been in the International Space Station (ISS). He assures there is no room for any concerns as he believes they will certainly come back to Earth either on the same capsule or any other as two of them have already been sent over there.
He further says that shifting a crew who is trained for one craft with particular specification to another is a bit challenging and has never been done before. He believes that they will get back on Earth in Starline itself.
As it was a 10 day mission which has been delayed to several weeks, the human body starts to react according to the atmosphere. Reports state that the two must have undergone body density loss and muscle mass as well.
Source: India Today
Such gravity changing situations change the course of the functioning of the body, and affects the spatial orientation, coordination balance and locomotion of the body. They may also experience the risk of developing kidney stone due to dehydration and increased excretion of calcium from their bones.
The chairman also speaks on the ongoing project of Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla who will be going to the space station later this year. He will be on the Indo-US Axiom-4 mission which is anticipated to be launched in early 2025. The mission will be led by America’s most experienced astronaut Dr. Peggy Annette Whitson.
