Indian-Origin Astronaut Sunita Williams TRAPPED in Space! _ Boeing Starliner_Low
Sunita William struck in space
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00:00Namaskar friends, 5th June, 2024, 10.52 am.
00:04A rocket launch of the Starliner spacecraft is taking place in the United States.
00:08One ignition and liftoff of Starliner Atlas V.
00:14NASA's two experienced astronauts,
00:17Commander Barry Butch Wilmore and Pilot Sunita Williams,
00:20are sitting on a small trip to the International Space Station.
00:25The spacecraft they are travelling in, Starliner,
00:28has a very special thing about it.
00:30It has been made by a private company, Boeing.
00:33The same company that makes aeroplanes,
00:35and has recently crashed many aeroplanes.
00:39This Starliner spacecraft is still in a developing stage.
00:42And this particular mission was the last step
00:45to test the capabilities of the Boeing Starliner.
00:48That's why this mission was literally named
00:50Boeing Crew Flight Test.
00:52The next day, after 27 hours, at 1.34 am,
00:56this spacecraft starts docking at the International Space Station.
01:04This docking is successful.
01:06And after some time, both the astronauts
01:09happily enter the space station.
01:11Look at this video.
01:12Pilot Sunita Williams is so excited at the time of entry.
01:17This successful docking meant that
01:19Boeing became the second private company in the world
01:21to make and fly a human orbital spacecraft.
01:25Before this, only SpaceX had done this.
01:27And only three countries have been able to do this in the world.
01:30Russia, USA and China.
01:32But the celebration of this good news
01:34was not going to last for long.
01:36This Starliner mission was supposed to be a 8-day mission.
01:39After 8 days, these astronauts had to return to Earth.
01:42But today, even after 3 months,
01:44both these astronauts are stuck in space.
01:48This spacecraft has many problems
01:50because of which it cannot be used again.
01:52According to NASA, these astronauts will be stuck there for 8 months.
01:57How did this failure happen?
01:58How much blame is put on Boeing?
02:00Let's understand this whole situation in today's video.
02:12Before starting the video, it is necessary to clear one thing here
02:14that both these astronauts are stuck in space.
02:17But they are not in any kind of danger.
02:19International Space Station is more than 350 feet long end-to-end.
02:23There is a place to accommodate a lot of people here.
02:26The living and working space that is present here
02:28is bigger than a 6-bedroom house.
02:30There is a place for 6 people to sleep here.
02:32There is food, water, clothes and oxygen
02:35and everything is arranged here.
02:36There are two bathrooms, a gym
02:38and a 360-degree view bay window.
02:40Although it is not that it is a very big luxury hotel,
02:43but it is a good place to be comfortable and survive.
02:47International Space Station has its own oxygen generating system.
02:50It generates oxygen through the electrolysis of water.
02:53And at the same time, it also recycles oxygen.
02:56When we breathe out, there is a lot of carbon dioxide in it.
03:00But to a large extent, oxygen is still present.
03:02So being able to extract that oxygen
03:05and using it again after recovering it,
03:08this is what it does.
03:09Similarly, there is a very good recycling system for water.
03:13Where urine is recycled
03:15and it is made into drinking water.
03:17But apart from this, this water recycling system
03:20also captures moisture.
03:22Which is released in the breath or in the sweat.
03:25If we talk about food,
03:26the food reserve is present in the International Space Station for about 6 months.
03:30But every 5-6 months,
03:32the crew members present in the International Space Station
03:35keep rotating.
03:37For example, the crew members of Expedition 71 are present in the station.
03:41The video you saw earlier,
03:42in which Sunita Williams was entering the station very excitedly,
03:45in the same video, you can see other astronauts
03:47who are a part of Expedition 71.
03:49Who were already present there.
03:51These are 4 astronauts of NASA.
03:52Matthew Dominic, Mike Barrett,
03:54Janet Epps and Tracy C. Dyson.
03:57And 3 astronauts of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos.
04:00Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chuk
04:03and Alexander Grebenkin.
04:05Typically, there are 6-7 people on these expeditions.
04:07And this number, Expedition 71,
04:09tells us that this is the 71st team of crew members
04:12which has come to the International Space Station to rotate.
04:15These expeditions have been going on for 24 years.
04:18In the year 2000,
04:19when the International Space Station was launched for the first time.
04:22From the year 2000 till now,
04:24the International Space Station has never been left empty for an extended period of time.
04:29Someone or the other has always been present in it.
04:31Expedition 71 will be completed on 24th September 2024.
04:35And these astronauts present in the station will return to Earth.
04:38And the crew members of Expedition 72 will come to take their place.
04:42So they can bring more food with them for these two astronauts.
04:45For now, NASA has said that Butch and Sunita,
04:48both the astronauts of Expedition 71 and Expedition 72,
04:52have become a part of both the groups.
04:53So along with them,
04:55they are conducting new research and experiments.
04:57It's not like these two astronauts are stuck in space
05:00and are getting bored sitting there without doing anything.
05:03Expedition 71 is currently researching on Space Botany.
05:06How flowers grow in space.
05:08On space-caused fluid shifts.
05:10On algae-based life support systems.
05:12Along with that,
05:13there is also research on neurodegenerative diseases and therapies in the station.
05:18Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
05:19Both of them are very experienced astronauts.
05:22Barry is 61 years old.
05:23And he has already spent 178 days in space before this mission.
05:28Sunita Williams is an Indian-origin astronaut like Kalpana Chawla.
05:32Although she was born in America.
05:34She is 58 years old.
05:35And she has been in space for 322 days before this mission.
05:39Before this, she was a part of Expedition 14, 15, 32, and 33.
05:43Along with that, she was also the commander of Expedition 33.
05:46So you can guess how experienced she is.
05:49So basically, these two astronauts shouldn't have any issues.
05:52Because there is food, water, and oxygen here.
05:54There were some issues with the clothes.
05:56Because they brought clothes for 8 days.
05:58They didn't carry much with them.
06:00But for this, NASA sent a shipment of their personal belongings on 6th August.
06:05So this was about the astronauts.
06:07But now let's come to the problematic thing.
06:09Which is this Starliner spacecraft.
06:12This Starliner spacecraft of Boeing is an orbital spacecraft.
06:16Its full name is Cruise Space Transportation-100 Starliner.
06:20In short, it is also called CST-100 Starliner.
06:23After SpaceX, Boeing is the only private company
06:26that has been able to send an orbital spacecraft to the International Space Station.
06:30What does orbital spacecraft mean?
06:32Basically, it is a spacecraft that flies at such a high speed
06:36that it can reach the Earth's orbit and travel around the Earth.
06:40For this, it needs a speed of more than 28,000 km per hour.
06:44On the other hand, suborbital spacecrafts reach the edge of space.
06:48But they can't reach so high that they can reach the Earth's orbit.
06:51They go up for a little while.
06:53They experience a little weightlessness.
06:55But then they come back down.
06:57The typical velocity of a suborbital spacecraft is less than 7,000 km per hour.
07:01So clearly, making an orbital spacecraft
07:03is much more difficult work than a suborbital.
07:06Especially an orbital spacecraft
07:08in which humans can also travel.
07:10Apart from SpaceX and Boeing private companies,
07:13there are only three countries that have been able to make a human orbital spacecraft.
07:16These are China, Russia, and the USA.
07:19And India is trying.
07:20Our Gaganyaan mission will be this.
07:22To send humans into space in an orbital spacecraft.
07:26Its first orbital test flight will be in December this year.
07:31It will be an uncrewed flight.
07:33That is, no humans will sit in it.
07:35For the first test, they will seat a humanoid
07:37whose name is named Vyom Mitra.
07:39Basically, they will seat a puppet and send it for the test.
07:42Because if humans are seated in the beginning
07:44and a problem arises, it can be very difficult.
07:46When it came back to NASA,
07:48around 2011, NASA started its Commercial Crew Program.
07:51According to which, they can collaborate with private companies.
07:55Many companies had bid for it.
07:57Like Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada,
07:59and in 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were selected for this program.
08:04In November 2020, the first flight of SpaceX Crew-1 took off.
08:07And SpaceX showed its success.
08:16Their spacecraft was named Crew Dragon.
08:19Which is very similar to Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which looks like this.
08:24The crew module on top has a seat for 7 people.
08:27There is a window here, a side hatch,
08:29and you can see its view from inside.
08:31A crew setup of 5 people is shown here.
08:33It is worth noting that there are thrusters here.
08:36With the help of which, the spacecraft flies
08:38and moves in different directions.
08:41These thrusters become the root of the problem later.
08:44Because of which, today, astronauts are stuck in space.
08:47Now, such uncertainties and difficult times can come in life anytime, for anyone.
08:51Especially in today's time, where there can be so many different types of diseases.
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09:03Especially in today's time, where experts claim that
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09:07Medical inflation has reached 14% in India.
09:10According to the 2021 Finance Commission report,
09:1370% expenditure on health is out of pocket.
09:17Because of which, 60 million Indians are pushed into poverty every year.
09:21And according to the National Insurance Academy's report of 2023,
09:24which was unveiled by IRDAI,
09:2673% of the country's population is not covered by health insurance.
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10:20Now, let's get back to the topic.
10:22The first launch date of Starliner CFT was set for 6th May 2024.
10:26Which means the launch that took place on 5th June
10:28was supposed to take place on 6th May.
10:30But on 6th May, the countdown was stopped just 2 hours before the launch
10:34due to a faulty pressure valve.
10:37This is the Atlas V rocket with which the spacecraft is attached.
10:40A pressure valve above it fails.
10:42Then on 1st June, another attempt is made
10:44and it is cancelled again just 4 minutes before the launch.
10:49This time, not a human but a computer abort system cancels it.
10:52Another setback for Boeing Saturday.
10:55Officials said the mission was halted minutes to go before liftoff
10:59by a computer abort system.
11:01Then on 5th June, you won't believe it,
11:04even before that launch, Boeing and NASA's engineers
11:07were busy managing a helium leak.
11:10Helium is the main gas due to which the propulsion system runs
11:13and the spacecraft's thrusters are fired.
11:17This spacecraft is attached to the International Space Station
11:20and is docked there.
11:21To bring it on the line, dock it and undock it,
11:24the thrusters are used here.
11:26And to operate these thrusters, helium is needed.
11:29NASA and Boeing's engineers said that helium is leaking
11:32due to a defective seal.
11:34But this leak is not a big deal.
11:36It is manageable and there won't be a big problem.
11:39That's why this launch is postponed to 5th June.
11:47But a few hours after the launch, two more leaks are seen.
11:51When the Starliner reaches the space station,
11:54a fourth helium leak is also seen.
11:56After 4 leaks, Boeing's commercial crew program manager
11:59admits that they don't know what the problem is.
12:03They need to understand the root cause.
12:10This is not an isolated error.
12:12This is a big systematic problem.
12:14Now another big problem arises
12:16a few hours before the docking of the Starliner.
12:18It is found that 5 out of the 28 thrusters
12:21on the Starliner are not working properly.
12:24To see this, Spacecraft Commander Butch Wilmore
12:27has to take manual control in his hands.
12:29Working with the engineers on the ground,
12:31he resets the thrusters and fires them again.
12:344 out of 5 thrusters start working again.
12:37And the Starliner successfully docks at the International Space Station.
12:42Steven Stitch, NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager
12:45says that this failure was due to a data issue.
12:48It had nothing to do with the hardware of the thrusters.
12:51But because of all these problems,
12:53NASA was being questioned.
12:55Can these astronauts really use the Starliner
12:57to return to Earth?
12:59When we are seeing so many leaks
13:01and the thrusters are also not working properly.
13:04After 6th June, NASA and Boeing
13:06conducted some hot fire tests
13:08to check these thrusters.
13:10But they noticed that these thrusters are overheating.
13:13And because of this, they are not working properly.
13:15They found that due to direct sunlight exposure
13:17on the manual control system of the capsule,
13:19it is overheating.
13:21When these thrusters were tested again without sunlight,
13:23then they were found to be operating normally.
13:25But overall, these engineers were not sure
13:28that when the Starliner returns,
13:30will there be a problem of overheating again or not?
13:33For this reason, it was decided
13:35that the Starliner will return to Earth without the astronauts.
13:38And those astronauts will remain in the space station for now.
13:41Overall, it is a good news that
13:43NASA gave priority to safety.
13:45Otherwise, everyone was thinking about the 2003 Challenger disaster
13:48where Kalpana Chawla was returning to Earth.
13:51And her spacecraft exploded.
13:57I had discussed this in detail in the Kalpana Chawla video
13:59that what exactly happened there.
14:01Here, NASA has decided
14:03to bring Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore back to Earth.
14:06They will use SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.
14:09In February 2025,
14:11when SpaceX's Crew-9 mission will go to the ISS,
14:14in that mission, only two people will be sent instead of four
14:17so that these two astronauts can return with them.
14:21Since this will happen next year in February,
14:24in total, these two astronauts will spend almost 9 months in space.
14:29NASA's Steve Stich calls the Starliner
14:31a Very Capable Spacecraft.
14:33He believes that it is not such a bad spacecraft.
14:36But the two missions of the Starliner before this,
14:39when it was tested without a crew, without humans,
14:42one of them was also failing.
14:44The first mission of the Boeing Starliner
14:46was conducted on 20th December 2019
14:48under the name Orbital Flight Test.
14:50There was no human in it,
14:51but a mannequin was sitting there
14:53named Rosie the Rocketeer.
14:54The same mannequin that will sit in the Gaganyaan after a few months.
14:57The purpose of this mission was to stay in space for 8 days,
15:00dock at the International Space Station
15:02and come back to Earth.
15:03But this mission was aborted only two days later.
15:06The Starliner was not able to dock at the International Space Station.
15:09Why was it not able to do it?
15:10For this, NASA and Boeing formed a joint review team
15:13and this team gave about 80 recommendations
15:15to NASA and Boeing to solve this problem.
15:18Once again, the reason behind this was the thrusters of the Starliner
15:21which could not fire on time
15:23and could not reach the correct orbit.
15:25The reason behind this is the miscalibration of the computer system
15:29and the timing.
15:30Steve Stitz had said at that time
15:31that NASA was not able to provide sufficient oversight to Boeing
15:35because of which these software problems came up.
15:37After this, the second test was done on 19th May 2022
15:40called Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2.
15:42And this time it was successful.
15:44Rosie the Rocketeer actually reached the ISS.
15:47But even in that test,
15:48some glitches were seen.
15:50Some thrusters were not able to operate properly.
15:53The same thing that was seen now in the launch of 2024.
15:56Interestingly, in 2014
15:58when NASA had given contracts to Boeing and SpaceX,
16:01SpaceX's contract worth was around $2.6 billion
16:05and Boeing's contract worth was $4.2 billion.
16:08And today, SpaceX has left Boeing so far behind
16:11that it is going to attempt one of the most riskiest missions soon.
16:15The world's first private spacewalk by an astronaut.
16:18A 20-minute spacewalk
16:20in which astronauts will come out of the spacecraft.
16:23But Boeing's problem is not limited to space.
16:26As an airline company,
16:27Boeing has been criticized a lot for the past few years.
16:30The reason behind this is
16:31the dangerous failures of Boeing's new 737 MAX commercial airplane.
16:36On 5th January this year,
16:38an Alaska Airlines flight,
16:40which was Boeing 737 MAX,
16:42was doing its normal flight
16:44from Portland to Ontario in America.
16:47As soon as the plane reached 16,000 feet,
16:49a door of the plane completely broke out.
16:53A very big hole was formed
16:54due to which rapid decompression was observed.
16:56People's phones, computers,
16:58and all the paper was thrown out of the plane.
17:01Thankfully,
17:02because the passengers were wearing seatbelts,
17:04no passenger fell out of the plane.
17:07Everyone survived.
17:08But after a few days,
17:09when the Federal Aviation Administration did an investigation,
17:12it was found that their hardware is loose.
17:14The bolts in the door
17:16need additional tightening.
17:18Alaska Airlines and United Airlines
17:20grounded all their 737 MAX airplanes.
17:23After the investigation,
17:24it was found that
17:25their loose parts were coming out in many other airplanes.
17:28Before this,
17:29in 2018,
17:30a bad sensor was found in their plane
17:32due to which Lion Air Flight 610
17:35crashed in Indonesia
17:37after a short time of take-off.
17:38All the passengers and crew members died in that flight.
17:41After this, in 2019,
17:42a similar dangerous incident happened with Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
17:46The plane crashed,
17:47all the passengers died.
17:49It was found that the software that Boeing installed in the plane
17:52was such a software that
17:54in some cases,
17:55it took away the control from the pilots.
17:57Due to the bad software,
17:58the plane crashed
17:59and the pilots tried to control the plane
18:02but they couldn't.
18:03When this happened,
18:05all Boeing 737 MAX airplanes
18:07were grounded for 20 months.
18:10Safety enhancements
18:11were checked again.
18:12And after December 2020,
18:14this plane entered the service again.
18:16But now, in 2024,
18:18these things can be seen again.
18:20Think about it.
18:21There are many fake conspiracy theories
18:23on these plane accidents.
18:24But in reality,
18:25the blame goes to this company
18:27and not to anyone else.
18:28The CEO of Boeing
18:29has said himself
18:31that he will get down from his chair
18:33by the end of this year.
18:35This is a very big and separate issue in itself.
18:38The carelessness of Boeing company
18:39and their failures.
18:40It has also been reported in the news
18:42that the whistleblowers
18:43who were raising their voices against this company
18:45died suddenly.
18:47So on this,
18:48a separate video can be made.
18:50But for now,
18:51let's end this video here.
18:52The link to Star Health Insurance
18:54can be found in the description below.
18:56And if you liked this video,
18:57then click here to watch the Kalpana Chawla video.
19:01Thank you very much.