Williams Will Return To Earth Onboard Atlantis In June

It probably means she won't earn the record for continuous time in space for a US astronaut... but from the sound of it, Sunita Williams doesn't mind a bit. On Thursday, NASA managers decided to bring Williams home earlier than planned, so she doesn't spend more than six months in orbit onboard the International Space Station.

As Aero-News reported last month, Williams was originally slated to come home onboard the shuttle Endeavour in early June... on the mission following a planned March flight by the shuttle Atlantis. Due to damage incurred in a late-February hailstorm, however, Atlantis is still stuck on Earth... pushing Endeavour's flight to August at the earliest.

NASA originally said Williams would stay on the station until Endeavour made it to the ISS. Agency managers had a change of heart, though, in part due to NASA's desire to have astronauts onboard the station no longer than six months at a time, due to possible health issues resulting from loss of bone and muscle density, as well as radiation exposure.

That decision will result in something of a low-Earth-orbit version of musical chairs. Williams' replacement on the station, Clay Anderson, will now fly onboard the repaired Atlantis when it launches in early June -- instead of Endeavour.

To make room for the last-minute addition to the Atlantis crew, some 200 pounds of supplies and maintenance items will be sent up to the ISS on later flights, either on shuttles or Russian Progress resupply capsules.

CNN reports Williams sounded pleased when informed of NASA's decision by Mission Control Thursday.

"That's pretty good," she said.

Williams would have had to stay in orbit until July 13 to break the US record for continuous time in space, currently held by fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria at 215 days. Lopez-Alegria returned from his record-setting flight earlier this month, onboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

If Atlantis lands as scheduled on June 19, Williams will still set a 192-day record for a female astronaut in orbit.

FMI: www.nasa.gov