NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore assured people on Friday that they're not “worried” about their return to Earth being delayed by several months and are “grateful” for the extra time they have in space.
“I wouldn't be surprised if plans changed,” a hair-triggered Williams told reporters at an afternoon news conference, one week after the Boeing Starliner that carried the pair to the space station in June ran into trouble and returned to Earth under its own power.
Williams and Wilmore were scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard a Boeing Starliner on June 5 and stay there for eight days before returning in a capsule, but a helium leak and thruster problems on board raised concerns.
Ultimately, the decision was made to extend the astronauts' stay at the space station, with them due to return in February, and the crew will launch later this month on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, leaving two vacant seats.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft lands unmanned on Earth
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore said Friday they are “not worried” about their return to Earth being delayed by several months. (NASA)
Wilmore said “lessons will be learned” about the Starliner problems and “what needs to be changed will be changed.”
“Boeing is on board with it. We're all on board with it,” he added. “We found some things that just didn't make sense for us to go back to Starliner when we had other options.”
Wilmore said he and Williams felt “very fortunate” that they had the option to stay aboard the station longer and return on a different spacecraft.
He felt that if there had been enough time, the Starliner could have been fixed and returned under its own power, but “there simply wasn't enough time.”
“We had to make some decisions along a timeline,” he said.
When asked by a Fox News reporter how Wilmore's faith has helped him on the space station, Wilmore cited 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, saying it explained how he felt about the situation.
The unmanned Boeing Starliner spacecraft ignited its thrusters on September 6 as it spun away from the International Space Station. (Associated Press via NASA)
It says, “But the Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take delight, for Christ's sake, in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Williams said the pair are now “fully qualified crew members” aboard the space station and will receive on-the-job training during their long-duration stay.
She added that the pair are “really excited to be flying two different vehicles…. We're the test pilots.”
“We have to turn the page and look to the next opportunity and do good things for the agency,” she said of the extension.
Wilmore explained that astronauts “are assigned a mission and are trained to handle any situation. You just have to accept whatever God gives you.”
“This isn't about what we do at NASA. It's about who we are.”
The Boeing Starliner detaches from the space station and heads back to Earth, alone, with no crew on board.
NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the foyer between the forward port of the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13. (NASA)
Williams explained that there was “a lot of opinion” about whether to return aboard the Starliner.
“We need a lot of people to get us to the space station and back,” she said, but the decision was ultimately made that it was too dangerous to bring them back on the Starliner.
“I'm not going to fret about things that I can't control,” Wilmore told reporters about his preparedness for the delay. “Maybe it wasn't instantaneous, but it was close. It was very short-lived.”
“We're professionals,” Williams agreed, adding that she was “more worried” about missing out on planned fall and winter activities with her family than she was about herself.
But she said she was “very happy.” [that Starliner] On September 6th, I returned home without any problems.
As their stay on the space station continued, Wilmore noted Williams' long, straightened curls and joked that she was told she had the “second-best hair” on the station.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams inspect safety hardware aboard the International Space Station on August 9. (Associated Press via NASA)
He added that the “transition into space and back to Earth will be comfortable.”
“Your joints don't hurt. The aches and pains that you normally experience just don't occur in space,” he added of the effects of microgravity on the human body.
But Williams noted that astronauts can “lose bone density and mass” in space, so the couple focus on cardio and using machines to help with deadlifts and squats each morning before work.
“This is my happy place,” she said.
Wilmore said it will be tough to miss out on some of her children's milestones this year, but that they will all “learn and grow from this experience.”
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Williams added that aside from conducting “world-class science” on the space station, it's often “very peaceful” there, allowing time for “introspection” as he watches “our planet go by.”
“You just change the perspective,” she said, adding that from the space station, “it's really hard for me to imagine people on Earth not getting along.”
