The NASA astronauts who have gotten an extended stay onboard the International Space Station once again pushed back against the narrative that they are stuck 250 miles above Earth.
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore had launched to the orbiting laboratory last summer on the first crewed test flight of the Boeing Starliner. They had trouble docking the spacecraft due to issues with its thrusters and helium leaks. It was determined to be too risky for them to return, and the capsule returned to Earth without them in September.
What was once just a ten-day mission, has now turned into an unexpected months-long odyssey.
Still, the pair say they don’t feel as “stuck” as everyone else seems to think they are.
“That’s been the rhetoric. That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck — and I get it. We both get it,” Wilmore told CNN.
He and Williams were also asked about claims from President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that they had been left in the lurch by the Biden administration.
“But that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about. We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded.”
Wilmore also pleaded with people to help change that narrative, to say they were “committed” to the trip and not just stuck in space.
“That’s what we prefer,” he said.
Williams’ message was similar to one they had given before about their situation.
“Butch and I knew this was a test flight,” she said, noting that they “knew that we would probably find some things (wrong with Starliner) and we found some stuff, and so that was not a surprise.”
The pair will return home as soon as next month on the SpaceX Crew-9 capsule. That timeline has been fast-tracked after a delay in departure was announced at the end of last year.
Trump said he had asked Musk to “go get” Wilmore and Williams who he said had been “virtually abandoned.” Musk confirmed that they would do that.
“The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so,” Musk said on social media platform X. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
