Massachusetts Woman May Be Stranded on International Space Station

Sunita "Suni" L. Wiliams was born September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, but she considers Needham, Massachusetts home.

For now, though, home is the International Space Station, and she may be there for a while.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected Suni Williams as an astronaut in 1998 and she is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33, which included "extravehicular activity."

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NASA.gov says Suni "is currently serving as the pilot of the Crew Flight Test mission aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft – the first crewed flight for that vehicle – and her third mission aboard the International Space Station."

NASA officials are concerned, however, about potential safety issues with Starliner, the vessel on which Williams and her co-pilot Butch Wilmore plan to return to Earth. The space agency may have Starliner return home unmanned, stranding the pair in space for months.

Williams and Wilmore could catch a ride home aboard the next Space X vessel set to launch in September. The return trip would be in February. When they launched in June, Williams and Wilmore anticipated being in space for a couple of weeks at most.

Barry Eugene "Butch" Wilmore was born December 29, 1962 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A U.S. Navy test pilot, Wilmore has had three space flights.

Williams' parents resided in Falmouth, Massachusetts, before relocating to Needham. Williams is a 1983 graduate of Needham High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1995.

A decision about whether to allow Williams and Wilmore to return home on the Starliner could come in mid-August.