Indian-Origin Sunita Williams flies to space aboard Boeing-NASA Starliner spacecraft

NEW DELHI — Creating history, Indian-Origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, along with Butch Wilmore, have become the first to fly to space aboard the Boeing Starliner’s first-ever crewed mission.

The 59-year-old Williams created history by becoming the first woman to fly on the maiden mission of a new human-rated spacecraft.

The crew was launched at 10:52 a.m. ET to fly aboard the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from the Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

“Liftoff! Go #AtlasV! Go Centaur! Go #Starliner!” Boeing Space said in a post on X.

“Godspeed, Butch Wilmore and @Astro_Suni!” It added.

The flight comes after several delays over the years.

The first human flight was slated on May 7, but was delayed over a helium leak and later due to an issue with the ground power supply at the ULA.

This is the third attempt and the weather was 90 per cent favourable for the launch.

Butch, 61, will be commanding the flight, and Williams, will be piloting the flight. The duo will stay at the International Space Station station for about a week before returning to Earth aboard the reusable crew capsule.

The Starliner mission aims to carry astronauts and cargo for future NASA missions to low Earth orbit, and beyond.