NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s Space Call and Polaris Dawn’s Historic Spacewalk
NASA astronauts Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore will make a call to Earth and participate in a press conference from the International Space Station on September 13 at 2:15 p.m. EDT. They launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 and arrived at the space station on June 6. The Starliner returned to Earth without its crew on September 6, landing safely in New Mexico.
Both astronauts thanked the flight controllers before the uncrewed Starliner returned. They will stay on the space station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew and return to Earth in February 2025 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Meanwhile, the Polaris Dawn crew made history by completing the first commercial spacewalk. Wearing new SpaceX EVA suits, they began their two-hour operation at 3:12 a.m. EDT, traveling at 17,500 miles per hour. Commander Jared Isaacman and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis performed tests on the suits and the Dragon mobility aid ‘Skywalker’ before returning to the cabin. Mission Pilot Scott ‘Kidd’ Poteet and Mission Specialist Anna Menon supported the operation.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn crew, stating that the success represents a significant step forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy.
Doubts Revealed
NASA -: NASA is the space agency of the United States. They send astronauts to space and explore planets and stars.
Astronauts -: Astronauts are people who are trained to travel and work in space. They do experiments and fix things on space stations.
Sunita Williams -: Sunita Williams is an astronaut of Indian-American origin. She has spent a lot of time in space and done many spacewalks.
Butch Wilmore -: Butch Wilmore is an astronaut from the United States. He has flown on space missions and worked on the International Space Station.
Space Call -: A space call is when astronauts talk to people on Earth using special communication systems. They can share their experiences and answer questions.
International Space Station -: The International Space Station (ISS) is a big spacecraft that orbits Earth. Astronauts live and work there to do science experiments.
Boeing’s Starliner -: Boeing’s Starliner is a spacecraft made by the company Boeing. It is used to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Polaris Dawn -: Polaris Dawn is a space mission by a private company. They aim to do new things in space, like spacewalks, which are walks outside the spacecraft.
Commercial Spacewalk -: A commercial spacewalk is when astronauts from private companies, not government space agencies, go outside their spacecraft to work in space.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson -: Bill Nelson is the head of NASA. He oversees all the space missions and projects that NASA does.
