Sunita Williams Set To Go To Space For Third Time In Boeing's Starliner, Here Are The Possible Dates After Postponement

After a postponement earlier, Boeing Starliner spacecraft is set to take Indian-origin astronaut Captain Sunita Williams to space between 1 and 6 June in its first-crewed mission.

This will be Williams's third visit to the space. She will be accompanied by Butch Wilmore and the journey is destined for the International Space Station.

NASA revealed that the teams are working toward a launch opportunity at 12:25 pm on 1 June with additional opportunities on 2, 5 and 6 June.

The launch was earlier scheduled for 7 May, however, due to the discovery of a small helium leak in the spacecraft's service module, it was postponed.

Already, the mission has faced a delay of several years due to setbacks in the spacecraft's development. Meanwhile, the astronauts are practicing on Starliner stimulators.

A qualified navy test pilot, Williams has previously flown to space in 2006 and 2012, accumulating a total of 322 days in space, according to NASA.

She became an astronaut in 1998 and was later selected to be part of the select group of astronauts for NASA's commercial crew programme after the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2015.

Following this launch, Boeing's Starliner will become the second private space company to provide to and fro crew transport between the earth and ISS after Elon Musk's SpaceX.