NASA admitted, Sunita Williams' space mission was a disaster
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Digital Desk, New Delhi. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially declared the 2024 Boeing Starliner mission a Type A accident. Because of this mission, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were stranded in space for nine months. This is considered the most serious failure at the highest level of the agency.
What was the plan of the mission?
The mission was severely criticized in a 311-page report dated February 19, 2026, which compared it to the Challenger and Columbia disasters due to serious technical failures and poor decision-making.
It was initially planned as an 8 to 14-day mission in June 2024, but propulsion system failures including five failed thrusters and a helium leak resulted in the mission turning into a nine-month mission.
What is a Type A mission?
The Type A classification label covers incidents that result in death, permanent disability or damage of more than $2 million, indicating the potential for a major disaster.
The investigation criticized NASA and Boeing for ignoring safety warnings and poor leadership decisions.
The Starliner capsule returned to Earth without any humans, but the crew returned safely on a SpaceX mission in March 2025.
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