Massachusetts woman may be stranded on space station

Sunita “Suni” L. Williams was born on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, but considers Needham, Massachusetts, her home.

The International Space Station is her current home and she may remain there for a while.

Suni Williams was selected as an astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33, which also included spacewalks.

According to NASA.gov, Suni is “currently serving as the pilot of the Crew Flight Test mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft – the first crewed flight of that vehicle – and her third mission aboard the International Space Station.”

But NASA officials are concerned about potential safety issues with Starliner, the spacecraft Williams and her co-pilot Butch Wilmore plan to use to return to Earth. The space agency could send Starliner home unmanned, leaving the pair stranded in space for months.

Williams and Wilmore could fly home on the next Space X spacecraft, scheduled to launch in September, and return in February. When they launched in June, Williams and Wilmore expected to spend a few weeks in space at most.

Barry Eugene “Butch” Wilmore was born on December 29, 1962 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Wilmore is a test pilot in the US Navy and has completed three space flights.

Williams’ parents lived in Falmouth, Massachusetts before moving to Needham. Williams graduated from Needham High School in 1983. She earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from the United States Naval Academy in 1995.

A decision on whether Williams and Wilmore will be allowed to return home on the Starliner could be made in mid-August.