Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore on ISS stay: ‘Not disappointed to be spending extra time in space’ | Technology News
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who were part of the Boeing Starliner mission, said that the capsule may have been able to complete its mission only if it had time. In their latest video conference, the duo said that they are not disappointed about their extended stay in space.
The Starliner was launched on June 5 and it was meant to last eight days. However, owing to helium leaks and thruster issues, the duo’s stay on the International Space Station was indefinitely extended.
Eventually, Nasa announced that the astronauts would return early February 2025 on Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. On September 6, Starliner returned to earth without astronauts. However, Barry Wilmore has said that decision was made under time pressure.
“We could have gotten to the point, I believe, where we could have returned on Starliner, but we just simply ran out of time,” Wilmore said Friday in a video press conference,” Wilmore said in a video conference.
LIVE: From the @Space_Station, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams discuss their ongoing mission and answer questions from the media:
— NASA (@NASA) September 13, 2024
As of now, there are 12 astronauts living and working on the ISS. Out of the 12, seven are Nasa astronauts. Six, including Wilmore and Williams, have been on ISS since June or earlier. This prolonged stay has also posed some challenges to the Nasa ISS team.
Explaining about the time pressure, Wilmore said, “The timeline came to the point where we had to decide, is Starliner coming back with us or without us?” Both Williams and Wilmore were involved in the discussions with Boeing and Nasa about the thruster issues and Starliner’s return plans.
Talking about the discussions, Williams said, “I was really impressed…There were a lot of opinions. There was a lot of data coming in at different times, and a lot of people trying to digest that data and understand it and take it forward.”
During the video interaction, both the astronauts expressed no disappointment about their extended stay in space. They went on to emphasise that the Starliner mission was a test flight and the issues encountered were normal. They said that handling unexpected challenges is a key aspect of being a NASA astronaut and former Navy test pilot.
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The astronauts also said that they will miss their families and friends during the extended orbital stay. Williams also described space as a ‘happy place’ and she also highlighted the advantage of getting on a different space craft for the return. “We’re excited to fly in two different spacecraft. I mean, we’re testers; that’s what we do,” Williams said. She added that they will come back with some evaluation of both spacecraft.
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