Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, who is stuck on the International Space Station (ISS), today said it is a “happy place” for her and she “loves” being there. Ms Williams and her fellow Nasa colleague Butch Wilmore took off on board Boeing’s Starliner on June 5 as part of the ship’s first crewed mission, originally scheduled for eight days in orbit. However, their stay has been extended to eight months after the Starliner returned to Earth without them last week due to multiple technical problems.
“That’s just the way things go in this business,” Sunita Williams said in a video press conference about being stuck in space.
Ms Williams said the transition to station life “wasn’t that difficult” because both astronauts had lived there before.
“This is a happy place for me. I love being in space,” the veteran astronaut said.
“We wanted to complete the Starliner and land it back in our country, but you have to turn the page and look for the next opportunity,” he said.
Live: @space StationAstronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams discuss their ongoing mission and answer media questions:
— NASA (@NASA) September 13, 2024
Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore are due to return in February on the Crew-9 flight of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Ms Williams said she was a little nervous because she wouldn’t be able to return home right away.
She said, “In my mind, there are people on the ground who have some plans like my family…spending time with my mom. And I think I was more worried about that. Like the plans we had made for this fall or winter…but everybody was ready for it and it got us ready.”
Mr Wilmore said he was not disappointed “at all” by the decision to stay in space and indicated there were “differences of opinion” about how the return should be handled.
“I believe we could have gotten to a point where we could have returned to Starliner, but we just didn’t have the time,” he said at the press conference.
“In this case, we found some things that made us uncomfortable going back to Starliner, even though we had other options,” he said.
Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore to vote in US elections from space
Both astronauts said they are looking forward to casting their vote in the 2024 US presidential election from the International Space Station.
Butch Wilmore said he sent in his request for a vote today.
“We all have a very important role to play as American citizens,” he said. “NASA has made it very easy for us to do that.”
Sunita Williams also said it was an “extremely important duty”.
“I’m looking forward to voting from space, which is great,” he said.
The US election – which will see a contest between Democrat Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump – will take place on November 5.
Boeing’s Starliner Failures
After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner finally took off for the International Space Station on June 5, carrying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, both former military test pilots. However, a day later, as the Starliner was approaching the ISS, NASA and Boeing identified a helium leak and some problems with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters.
Hugs all around! Expedition 71 crew Butch Wilmore and @astro_sunny Near @space Station after #starliner Docked on June 6 at 1:34 p.m. E.T. pic.twitter.com/wQZAYy2LGH
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 6, 2024
Five of the Starliner’s 28 thrusters failed during the flight and it suffered multiple leaks of helium, which is used to pressurize the thrusters. It was still able to dock with the space station, which has housed a rotating crew of astronauts for more than two decades.
However, NASA feared that the capsule would not be able to achieve the thrust needed to return to Earth, so it decided to transfer both astronauts to a SpaceX mission and return the Starliner empty.
