Astronauts trapped in space, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, said Friday it was tough watching the Boeing capsule return to Earth without them.
It was their first public comment since the Boeing Starliner capsule that carried them to the International Space Station in June returned last week, after NASA decided the troubled capsule was too risky for them to board, so they remained.
“That’s the way it is in this industry,” Williams said, adding, “You have to turn the page and look for the next opportunity.”
Wilmore and Williams are now full-time crew members aboard the space station, helping with routine maintenance and experiments. Earlier this week, they, along with seven other crew members, welcomed a Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and one American, temporarily bringing the station’s crew to 12, close to a record.
The transition to base life “wasn’t too difficult” for either of them because they had both served on base before, said Williams, who will soon become base commander.
“This is my happy place. I love being in space,” she said.
The two Starliner test pilots, a retired Navy captain and a longtime NASA astronaut, will remain in the orbital laboratory until late February before awaiting return in a SpaceX capsule. That spacecraft is scheduled to launch later this month with a reduced crew of just two, leaving the two seats for Wilmore and Williams vacant for the return journey.
They said they were grateful for the prayers and well wishes from strangers in their hometown, and Wilmore said she will miss some family milestones, including being present for her youngest daughter’s final year of high school.
The Starliner spacecraft was Boeing’s first spaceflight. The spacecraft endured a series of thruster failures and helium leaks before arriving at the space station on June 6. It landed safely in the New Mexico desert earlier this month, but Boeing’s future in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program remains unclear.
The space agency hired SpaceX and Boeing as an orbital taxi service a decade ago when the space shuttle was retired. SpaceX has been ferrying astronauts there since 2020.
