{"id":14249,"date":"2024-09-14T20:29:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=14249"},"modified":"2024-09-14T20:29:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:29:36","slug":"nasa-astronauts-who-are-stranded-in-space-until-2025-break-silence-and-make-tough-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=14249","title":{"rendered":"NASA astronauts who are stranded in space until 2025 break silence and make ‘tough’ admission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s ship has recently returned to Earth without them<\/h2>\n

NASA astronauts stranded in space until next year said they did not feel let down by Boeing, but admitted to ‘tough times’.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boeing\u2019s first astronaut mission ended earlier this month with its Starliner capsule returning to\u00a0Earth<\/a>\u00a0with test pilots\u00a0Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita Williams still in space<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wilmore said they had ‘found some things that we just could not get comfortable with putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options’.<\/p>\n

NASA<\/a>\u00a0has said the pair will instead return on a\u00a0SpaceX<\/a>\u00a0craft in February 2025 – stretching their original eight-day mission to more than eight months.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference on Friday evening (September 13) from the\u00a0International Space Station<\/a>, Wilmore said: \u201cIt\u2019s been quite an evolution over the last three months, we\u2019ve been involved from the beginning through all the processes of assessing our spacecraft, Calypso.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was trying at times. There were some tough times all the way through.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou certainly, as the commander and the PLT (pilot) of your spacecraft, you don\u2019t want to see it go off without you, but that\u2019s where we wound up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt let down by Boeing after\u00a0Starliner returned to Earth without its crew<\/a>, Wilmore said: \u201cLet down? Absolutely not. Never entered my mind. I don\u2019t think Suni\u2019s either, until you mentioned it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Barry<\/div>\n

Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams’ mission has been a lot longer than expected (NASA)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Wilmore added that Boeing was ‘on board’ with ‘changes that need to be made’ after the company\u2019s Starliner capsule returned to Earth without its crew onboard.<\/p>\n

The astronaut told the press conference: \u201cObviously, when you have issues like we\u2019ve had, there\u2019s some changes that need to be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoeing\u2019s on board with that. We\u2019re all on board with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilmore added: \u201cWhen you push the edge of the envelope again and you do things with spacecraft that have never been done before, just like Starliner, you\u2019re going to find some things.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in this case, we found some things that we just could not get comfortable with putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s many cases in the past where there have not been other options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very fortunate that we have the Space Station and that we had the option to stay and we had the option to come back a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The two astronauts chatted to the media on September 13 (BBC News\/NASA)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Williams, whose hair floated during the press conference, said the pair missed their families during their extended stay on the International\u00a0Space<\/a>\u00a0Station.<\/p>\n

The astronaut added: \u201cI miss my two dogs, I miss my friends. But you know what? Like Butch said, there are so many people on Earth that are sending us messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it makes you feel just right at home with everybody when we\u2019re able to have those conversations with our friends and family at home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s ship has recently returned to Earth without them NASA astronauts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t