NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and of Indian origin Sunita Williams On Friday they said it was difficult to see their Boeing flying back to Earth without them, resulting in spending additional months in the International Space Station (EEI).
It was Butch Wilmore’s first public reaction and Sunita WilliamsStuck in space since Boeing’s return last week Starliner which took them to the ISS in June. The US space agency decided to bring back the capsule without both astronauts as the problem-ridden capsule posed too much risk for them to return in.
“It was difficult at times. There were difficult moments throughout the process,” NASA astronaut Wilmore said. As spacecraft pilots, “you don’t want it to take off without you, but that’s where we ended up,” he added.
“That’s how this business works,” Sunita Williams said, adding that “you have to move on and look at the next opportunity.”
Both astronauts are now full members of the station’s crew, assisting in routine maintenance and experiments. Williams will take command of the space station in a few weeks.
The duo, along with seven other people on board, welcomed a Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and one American earlier this week, temporarily raising the station’s population to 12, a near-record.
Two more astronauts are scheduled to fly on SpaceX later this month; two seats in the capsule will be left empty for Wilmore and Williams for the return trip, a near-record.
The transition to life on the station “wasn’t that difficult” since both had been there before, said Williams, who logged two lengthy stays on the space station years ago.
“This is my happy place. I love being up here in space,” Williams added.
Wilmore noted that while his adjustment wasn’t instantaneous, it was “pretty close.”
The astronauts said they appreciate all the prayers and well wishes from strangers back home, and that it has helped them cope with all they will miss at home.
It is important to note that your Starliner capsule It was Boeing’s first space flight with astronauts. The rocket suffered a series of booster failures and helium leaks before reaching the space station on June 6. It landed safely in the New Mexico desert earlier this month.
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