Two NASA astronauts stranded in space after a fiasco with a Boeing spacecraft held their first press conference.
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been trapped on the International Space Station since Boeing’s Starliner brought them there on June 6.
Their extended stay has also been challenging for their families on Earth. Wilmore and his wife have two daughters, one who is a senior in high school and another who is in college.
Wilmore said the delayed return mission will cause her to miss most of her youngest daughter’s senior year of high school, and she was unable to spend the summer with her oldest daughter before she returned to college.
But he hopes his absence will make them stronger. “They will learn from this and grow from it,” he said.
Sunita Williams (left) and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore answered questions live from the International Space Station on Friday, where they have been stranded for more than three months.
Sunita left her husband and two dogs at home when Starliner took off more than three months ago.
She said she misses walking her dogs in the morning and listening to the sounds of the beginning of the day on Earth, like birdsong.
But being able to watch his home planet pass by from the ISS window “transports you to a different place, it’s very peaceful up here,” he said.
Starliner launched on June 5 with the intention of docking at the ISS for about a week before returning Wilmore and Williams safely to Earth.
But the mission had already gotten off to a rocky start. In the preceding weeks, the launch had been delayed several times due to technical problems with the spacecraft.
Even on liftoff day, Starliner experienced small helium leaks that engineers determined were not severe enough to delay the launch again.
From there, it was all downhill. By the time Starliner reached the ISS, it had suffered more helium leaks and five of its 18 thrusters had failed.
Ultimately, NASA decided it would be too risky for Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth in Starliner.
A complete timeline of Boeing’s Starliner program, from the announcement of its mass outreach to the incident that left two astronauts stranded aboard the ISS.
Instead, they are awaiting SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which will pick them up at the ISS and bring them back home no earlier than February 2025.
Boeing’s Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed on September 7.
Wilmore acknowledged the series of setbacks, saying there have been “some difficult moments” since the start of its mission, and it was difficult to see Starliner returning home without them.
And regarding NASA’s decision not to allow Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth with their spacecraft, Wilmore said, “We found things we weren’t comfortable with.”
He said he thinks they might have gotten to the point where they could have returned on Starliner, but “we just ran out of time.”
Williams said that because she and Wilmore used to work in the Navy, they are familiar with last-minute logistical changes like this.
“We’re not surprised when deployments are modified,” he said, adding that their families understand.
“It’s risky and that’s how the business works,” he said.
When a reporter asked the astronauts if they felt “disappointed” by NASA and Boeing, Wilmore replied: “absolutely not.”
Pointing to Williams’ NASA-logoed T-shirt, he said, “That represents something we stand for as an agency: We push the envelope, we do things that are out of the ordinary.”
“This is not easy,” he added.
He explained that 90 percent of their training as astronauts is preparing for “the unexpected.”
But we wouldn’t expect astronauts to say anything critical about NASA, their employer or the Boeing Starliner capsule that carried them to the ISS.
Furthermore, it is well known that long-duration space missions can affect an astronaut’s mental and emotional well-being.
On simulated space missions, some experience the “third trimester phenomenon” – a drop in motivation that comes with the realization that they have as much time left in their situation as they have already lived.
But if Williams and Wilmore are starting to feel tired from their extended stay on the ISS, they didn’t show it. Their demeanor remained upbeat and cheerful throughout the press conference.
“We’re tasked, we learn and we train to handle all kinds of different situations,” Wilmore said, adding that it’s not something she learned just at NASA, but throughout her entire career.
“You have to go with what the good Lord gives you, whatever it is.”