Who are Nasa pioneers flying on Boeing’s Starliner? Set to return with SpaceX – Times of India

Two veteran Nasa astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who together have more than 500 days of spaceflight experience, became the first crew to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner space capsule on a test flight from Florida on June 5.
Initially scheduled to return to Earth after about eight days, their mission has now been extended until early next year.
Nasa decided to delay their return after deeming the Starliner’s propulsion system issues, including leaks and thruster failures, too risky. The astronauts will instead return on a SpaceX vehicle.
Due to leaks and thruster failures on the Starliner capsule, the mission of the two astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) has been extended by several months.
Here are further details about the astronauts:
Barry Wilmore
Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, is a retired US navy captain who served as a fighter pilot, completing four operational deployments, including 21 combat missions during the first Gulf War in the 1990s.
Before joining Nasa’s astronaut corps in 2000, Wilmore worked as a Navy test pilot and flight instructor.
His space career began in 2009 when he first flew to the International Space Station (ISS) as a pilot on a Nasa space shuttle mission. He returned to the ISS in 2014 on a long-duration mission aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, spending several months as the station commander.
Prior to his current mission on the Starliner, Wilmore had accumulated 178 days in space and completed four spacewalks.
A native of Tennessee, Wilmore played college football at Tennessee Tech University and holds advanced degrees in electrical engineering and aviation systems. He is married and has two daughters.
Sunita Williams
Sunita “Suni” Williams, 58, is a former US navy helicopter pilot with extensive experience flying over 30 different rotary aircraft.
In the first Gulf War, she was part of a helicopter combat support squadron and later supported disaster relief operations in Florida following Hurricane Andrew. She returned to the naval test pilot school as a rotary aircraft instructor before joining Nasa’s astronaut program in 1998.
Williams first travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a space shuttle and returned for a long-duration mission as a Soyuz passenger with two cosmonauts. Her two ISS tours, in 2006-2007 and 2012, were focused on science expeditions.
During her time aboard the ISS, Williams set a world record for the most time spent by a woman in orbit outside a spacecraft, totalling 50 hours and 40 minutes across seven spacewalks.
However, her record has since been surpassed by Peggy Whitson, Williams remains notable for her achievements. In 2012, she became the second woman to serve as ISS commander.
An enthusiastic athlete, Williams became the first person to complete a marathon in space in 2007, virtually participating in the Boston Marathon and finishing in four hours and 24 minutes using the space station’s treadmill.
In 2012, Sunita Williams completed the first triathlon in space, using the space station’s treadmill, stationary bicycle, and a resistance machine.
Before her Starliner mission, she had spent 322 days in space and was the first woman on the inaugural crewed flight of a new spacecraft. Originally from Massachusetts, Williams now resides in Houston with her husband, a former helicopter pilot and current federal police officer.