2.04.2025

Though their roughly weeklong Boeing Starliner test flight last June pivoted into an unexpected 286-day stay in low-Earth orbit, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams still support the oft-criticized spacecraft.

In fact, Wilmore said Starliner has the most capability compared with the SpaceX Dragon and NASA’s Orion capsule, considering Starliner's ability to maneuver automatically and manually in all phases of flight. And he said Starliner could perform a barrel roll over the top of the International Space Station.

“It is very, very capable. If we can figure out a couple of very important primary issues with the thrusters and the helium system, Starliner is ready to go," said Wilmore. He and Williams are scheduled to discuss the spacecraft Wednesday with Boeing program managers and senior chief engineers.

Monday afternoon, NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Wilmore, Williams and Nick Hague talked about their months aboard the ISS during an hourlong news conference from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Wilmore and Williams' mission became politically charged after SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden's administration of "stranding" them aboard the outpost after Starliner's malfunctions. NASA has said that Wilmore and Williams always had a way home, via a Dragon docked to the space station, and the agency decided to delay their return and attach them to a regular station rotational mission.

Their marathon mission ended two weeks ago, when Wilmore, Williams, Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov reentered Earth's atmosphere inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and splashed down off Florida's Gulf Coast offshore from Tallahassee. Gorbunov did not participate in Monday's Crew-9 news conference because of his travel schedule, NASA reported.

• June 5, 2024: Williams and Wilmore launch inside Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its crewed test flight atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Starliner suffered thruster woes and helium leaks en route to docking with the ISS the next day.
• Aug. 24, 2024: NASA announces Starliner would return to Earth with no people aboard and assigns Wilmore and Williams to return with the upcoming Crew-9 rotational mission.
• Sept. 28, 2024: The Crew-9 Dragon capsule — carrying Hague, Gorbunov and two empty seats — launches on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
• March 14, 2025: The four Crew-10 members launch on a Falcon 9from Kennedy Space Center. Upon arrival, they briefly boost the number of personnel aboard the ISS from seven to 11.
• March 18, 2025: Crew-9 splashes down off the Florida coastline.

All told, Williams and Wilmore traveled more than 121 million miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth, a NASA press release said.

Wilmore blamed himself in part for Starliner’s test flight woes.

“There were questions that, as the commander of the spacecraft, that I should have asked. And I did not. At the time, I didn’t know I needed to. And maybe you could call that hindsight. But I’ll start and point the finger, and I’ll blame me," he said.

Wilmore also said responsibility lies with Boeing and NASA, "all the way up and down the chain."

Asked if political narratives linked with their mission are good for NASA and the space industry, Williams said it is an honor that people are paying are attention. She said "good news" and "bad news" about their mission aboard the ISS is just news, and it is good for space exploration.

“We also have bigger goals of exploring our solar system, going back to the moon, going out to Mars. And to get people understanding that it is hard. It is difficult. And what we do up there is really awesome," Williams said.

"And I think, at least, that we had a little bit of that that came with the interest in this mission. And if we can perpetuate that and tell people a little bit more and have the opportunity, the forum to do that, I’m very thankful for that," she said.

Thursday, NASA announced the four members of Crew-11: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman (commander) and Mike Fincke (pilot), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui (mission specialist) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov (mission specialist). They are expected to launch to the ISS aboard a Dragon capsule in July, at the earliest.

Williams' video message for Florida Tech from ISS

Williams earned a master of science degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1995. NASA selected her to become an astronaut three years later, in 1998.

In March, she delivered a video message to the Florida Tech community while floating inside the ISS.

"As you may be aware, I've been here on board a bit longer than was originally planned back in June," Williams said, hair streaming outward in microgravity.

"But I've always said: 'ISS is my happy place.' So it's been natural for me to make the most of being here. There are new experiments to conduct, systems to maintain, and challenges to tackle," she said.

"Every challenge we overcome makes space exploration safer and more efficient, bringing us closer to an era where space transportation is as common as air travel," she said.

Quelle: Florida Today

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NASA astronauts speak out for the first time following unexpected 9-month mission to space

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Two astronauts whose planned weeklong stay in low-Earth orbit unexpectedly turned into a more than 9-month mission due to spacecraft problems spoke publicly to reporters Monday for the first time since their return to terra firma on March 18.

NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore garnered worldwide attention when issues with their Boeing Starliner vehicle cropped up during a June test flight to the International Space Station. As they waited for an alternative ride home, the pair faced a stream of rhetoric, bolstered by politicians and media, about being “abandoned,” “stranded,” or “stuck” — descriptors the astronauts themselves have denied.

Williams, Wilmore and fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague — who were all part of the Crew-9 mission that ultimately brought the test flight team back to Earth — addressed questions about the Starliner saga during a NASA news conference.

“We were always coming back, and I think people need to know that,” Williams said. “We’re back to actually, you know, share our story with so many people, because … it’s unique, and there’s some lessons learned to it, and part of that is just resilience and being able to take a turn that was unexpected and make the best of it.”

Williams acknowledged that she and Wilmore knew going into the Starliner test mission that flying a new spacecraft was “unique,” but neither expected all of the attention their extended stay garnered. Once the duo realized they would become part of the space station crew for longer than expected, they “pivoted,” Williams said.

“We are International Space Station crew members, and we’re doing what all of our other friends in the astronaut office do: Go and work and train and and do amazing science experiments up on the International Space Station,” Williams said.

Williams said she and Wilmore were honored and humbled by the amount of interest in their journey.

“When we came home, (it was) like, wow, there are a lot of people who are interested,” she said. “Very thankful, very amazed that we could hopefully be one positive element to bring people together.”

Both Williams and Wilmore said that Starliner is “very capable.” Given the chance, they would fly it again in the future, according to Wilmore.

“We’re going to rectify all the issues that we encountered,” Wilmore said. “We’re going to fix it, we’re going to make it work. Boeing’s completely committed. NASA is completely committed. And with that, I’d get on in a heartbeat.”

The astronauts were repeatedly asked about any politics that came into play during their time on the station.

“When we’re up there operating in space, you don’t feel the politics,” Hague said. “You don’t feel any of that.”

During an interview with Fox News on Monday, Wilmore for the first time said he thought “in certain respects, we were stuck.”

But he continued to refute the broader narrative that he and Williams were abandoned.

“Based on how they were couching this? That we were left and forgotten and all? We were nowhere near any of that,” Wilmore said.

President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, now one of Trump’s top advisers, have repeatedly taken credit for expediting Williams and Wilmore’s return.

Trump and Musk have also accused the Biden Administration of abandoning the astronauts in space for “political reasons,” though there is no publicly available evidence for that assertion.

Wilmore on Monday repeated earlier statements that he “believes” Musk and Trump, though he did not say about what, specifically.

“You’ve given me no reason not to trust you — either one of them,” Wilmore told Fox News when asked what he would say to Trump and Musk. “I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human spaceflight program.”

Quelle: CNN