NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spoke at a press conference yesterday about their continued presence on the International Space Station. The two are now fully integrated into the International Space Station crew after the Boeing Starship intended to bring them home last week was instead returned to Earth without a crew.
Earlier, the two were asked if they were “disappointed” with Boeing.
“Absolutely not,” Wilmore said.
“This operation is not easy. NASA does a great job – the people at NASA do a great job – making a lot of things look easy. Send a probe beyond the edge of the solar system; get in there [and] Obtaining samples from asteroids; humans in space. It’s a very dangerous business and things don’t always go your way.
After discovering problems with the Starliner’s thrusters and a helium leak, NASA decided not to allow the spacecraft to return with the two men. But Wilmore said that given more time, “I believe we could have gotten to the point where we could have flown back on Starliner. But we just ran out of time. Instead, the two have become part of the International Space Station crew.”
Wilmore, who said Williams will soon become the commander of the International Space Station, said the transition to the station crew was “not difficult” because she and Wilmore had already Years of preparation have gone into preparing for a trip to the International Space Station. She said it was a unique opportunity for the two test pilots to return aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule after NASA’s Crew-9 mission, adding, “We are excited to be aboard two different spacecraft. aircraft; I mean, we’re testers, that’s what we do.
Both astronauts expressed frustration with the extended time spent aboard the International Space Station. “Space is my happy place,” Williams said. “…Every day you do some ‘work’ – you can do it backwards, you can do it sideways, so it adds a little bit of a different perspective. .
