One of the first crew members to board a commercial spaceship and go to the International Space Station will be a NASA astronaut from Needham.
NASA chose Sunita Williams on Friday to be one of the two passengers on Boeing’s forthcoming CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft. NASA has chosen a crew to ride aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon craft.
When the ISS mission takes off, NASA said astronaut Josh Cassada will travel next to astronaut Sunita Williams. Cassada will fly into space for the first time on that trip.
Williams expressed her excitement about utilizing Boeing’s craft on a global scale and about helping NASA get ready for upcoming space programmes.
Boeing has delayed the Starliner capsule’s schedule after it failed a test in June. The Starliner is the first human test to take place in the middle of 2019. Williams and Cassada won’t go on the air until that task is completed.
Since 1998, Williams has served as an astronaut for NASA.
According to the space agency, she has completed seven spacewalks, spent a total of 322 days in space, and served as an ISS commander in the past.