Sunita Williams flies to space for third time

Houston, June 5

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams flew to space for the third time on Wednesday along with a colleague, scripting history as the first members aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission carrying Williams, and Butch Wilmore lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after multiple delays. Williams, 58, is the pilot for the flight test while Wilmore, 61, is the commander of the mission.

Williams also made history as the first woman to embark on such a mission. And it won’t be her first entry in the history books.

She served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33. Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft’s development.